Dental News - Early antibiotic use may increase risk of hypomineralisation in children

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 14. July 2016

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HELSINKI, Finland: Children who are treated with certain types of antibiotics early in life may have a higher risk of molar incisor hypomineralisation (MIH), new findings from Finland suggest. In the study, children who had received penicillin or macrolides within the first year or amoxicillin within the first three years were found to have higher odds ratios (OR) for developing the enamel defect than did children who had not received these antibiotics.

In order to evaluate the link between the use of antibiotics and the appearance of enamel hypomineralisation, researchers from the University of Helsinki examined 287 children from two Finnish schools in second and fifth grade, respectively. When comparing the examination data with the children’s medical records from their first three years of life, they found an elevated risk of hypomineralisation caused by antibiotic treatment.

Children who had received penicillin within the first year or amoxicillin within the first three years had a higher risk of MIH (2.61 and 2.58 times, adjusted OR, respectively) compared with those who had not received these antibiotics. The highest ORs for the condition were associated with macrolide antibiotics, such as erythromycin or clarithromycin (adjusted OR = 4.07).

Regarding types of illnesses, children with at least one acute episode of otitis media within the first year had a higher risk of MIH (2.28 times, adjusted OR) than those who had not suffered from the infectious disease. In addition, the analysis showed that each additional treatment with any of the antibiotics investigated further increased children’s risk of MIH.

MIH is a developmental enamel defect affecting one to four first permanent molars and often also incisors. Clinical challenges of affected teeth include increased sensitivity and rapid development of dental caries, as well as the repeated marginal breakdown of restorations.

The study, titled “Molar–incisor hypomineralization and the association with childhood illnesses and antibiotics in a group of Finnish children”, was published on 3 May in the Acta Odontologica Scandinavica journal.

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