Gastroesophageal reflux and dental consequences

Background: Dentists are often the first health care professionals to diagnose dental consequences in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Gastroesophageal reflux is disease of gastrointestinal tract, where gastric contents and acid returns in esophagus and oral cavity and couses consequences. Chronic exposure to gastric acid in the presence of gastroesophageal reflux leads to dental erosion and sensitivity. The purpose of this study was to confirm the association of gastroesophageal reflux disease and dental erosion and sensitivity. Materials and Methods: The materials that we have used are reviews of 339 studies and articles that were made all around the world. Those studies are from the Internet database. Results and discussion: We compare the results from the studies and sort them in graphics. The most important are: 1. The percentage of dental erosion will depend upon how long the disease has been present and the frequency and quantity of regurgitation Besides that, dental erosion in patients with gastroesophageal reflux, has been reported in high number of studies with percentage higher than 70 % . 2. The dental sensitivity in patients with gastroesophageal reflux is lower percentage than dental erosion and it depends of the stage of dental erosion. The sensitivity included a significant number of studies with 55 % . Conclusion : We concluded that dental erosion and sensitivity is with high percentage in patients with gastrointestinal reflux. Also, dental erosion is with higher percentage than dental sensitivity in patients with gastroesophageal reflux, because of the return of the gastric acid back up into the oral cavity Key words: gastrointestinal reflux, gastric acid, dental erosion, teeth sensitivity, revie