Oral diseases caused by taking medicine

What is medicine? It is used to treat diseases! But sometimes, medicine can cause diseases! Some oral diseases are caused by taking medicine. The most familiar drug-induced oral disease is probably tetracycline tooth that was popular many years ago. But in fact, there are more than one oral disease caused by taking medicine. So today we will talk about those oral diseases related to medicines.

1. Acid erosion

Erosion is a type of tooth wear (TW). It is defined as the irreversible loss of tooth structure due to chemical dissolution initiated by acids of non-bacterial origin . The most common cause of erosion is exposure of teeth to acidic foods such as alcohol, juices, carbonated beverages, etc.

Similarly, many acidic drugs, such as chewable vitamin C tablets, aspirin and some iron preparations, may also cause erosion.

In addition, certain medications that cause hyposalivation (low saliva quantity or quality) are also considered risk factors for erosion because these medications weaken the buffering effect of saliva on the oral environment and thus weaken the protective effect of saliva on teeth.

Of course, the direct consequence of insufficient saliva secretion is dry mouth, which can lead to a series of oral health problems, including but not limited to erosion, tooth decay, bad breath, oral candidiasis, burning mouth syndrome, etc.

Image source: Wikipedia

2Drug -induced gingival hypertrophy

Not only teeth can be affected by drugs, but other oral tissues and organs may also be affected by drugs. The gums are a typical example, and the gum disease caused by drugs is called drug-induced gingival enlargement (DIGE) .

Source: Periodontology, 4th edition, People's Medical Publishing House

The three commonly used drugs related to DIGE are: ① anti-epileptic drugs - phenytoin sodium; ② immunosuppressants - cyclosporine, which are often used in patients with organ transplants or certain autoimmune diseases; ③ calcium channel blockers , such as nifedipine and verapamil, which are mainly used to treat cardiovascular diseases.

Therefore, once patients using the above-mentioned drugs are found to have gingival hypertrophy, it is recommended that on the one hand, good oral hygiene measures be taken to try to remove local irritants that cause gingival inflammation; on the other hand, consider discontinuing the above-mentioned drugs or replacing them with other drugs.

As mentioned before, there are many more oral diseases caused by drugs than these, which will be discussed later!