Dental evaluation is helpful in the differentiation of functional heartburn and gastroesophageal reflux disease
Krisztina Helle, Anna Zsófia Árok, Georgina Ollé, Márk Antal, A Rosztóczy
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Heartburn is identically the key symptom of both, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and functional heartburn (FHB), making the differential diagnosis resource-intensive. Oral manifestations of GERD can be easily examined; therefore, their exploration might be a cheap, widely available, and useful tool in the differentiation of GERD and FHB. AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of dental erosions (DE) and periodontal diseases (PD) in patients with heartburn and their association with GERD and FHB. METHODS: A total of 116 [M/F: 51/65, mean age: 54 (17-80) years] consecutive patients with heartburn were enrolled for detailed esophageal function and orodental examinations. RESULTS: < 0.01) than those with FHB. CONCLUSION: The dental evaluation of patients with heartburn seems to be useful in the differential diagnosis of GERD and FHB. Among the studied parameters, the co-appearance of DE and PD seems to be the best predictor of GERD, whereas the absence of dental disorders was mostly observed in FHB.