Eating disorders part II: clinical strategies for dental treatment

Abstract

Aim: To present the strategies of treatment for dental implications of eating disorders.

Methods and materials: A comprehensive review of the literature was conducted with special emphasis on the treatment of the oral implications of anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, dividing the treatment into different parts.

Results: Oral manifestations of eating disorders represent a challenge to the dental practitioner. Dental erosion, caries, xerostomia, enlargement of parotide glands, traumatized oral mucosa, and other oral manifestations may present in anorexic and bulimic patients.

Conclusion: Often the dentist is the first healthcare provider to observe the clinical symptoms of an eating disorder. Dental treatment should be carried out simultaneously with the medical treatment. However, dentists are not aware of the fundamental importance of the dentist's participation in the multidisciplinary treatment and no training is provided with regard to the strategies involved in the dental treatment.

Clinical significance: Oral complications of eating disorders are a major concern. The difficulties of recognizing the oral manifestations, and the failure to do so, may lead to serious systemic problems in addition to progressive and irreversible damage to the oral hard tissues. Considering the increasing incidence and prevalence rates of eating disorders, the dentist's participation and dental treatment should be discussed.