Pred and Problems with teeth

Sorry, Folks. Kind of need to specific here and am not wanting to start another (yawn!) Pred side effect topic!

But...If anybody can track down any articles on the internet where anything is said citing Pred as a cause of enamel erosion, tooth decay, problems with teeth etc I would surely be so grateful.

Have just had my 4th major repair job in almost as many months. That dentist of mine'll be driving around in a shiny new Merc if any more disintegrate!

My teeth seem to break away and fall off in chunks leaving existing fillings behind. However, he does not believe it to be a side effect of long term steroids and says it is more likely to be the sugary high cal diet I am now on. But I floss, brush, rinse all day long, so I disagree with that.

I'm just fed up of it happening and had a perfect set of pearly whites until all this started.

I would so love to displease him and print off any such articles, in a kindly way.

Thanks, and not to worry if you can't find anything as I have been doing a fare bit of so far unsuccessful Googling on said subject myself.

Oh, but one thing he did say, is that the inside of my mouth is really fragile and if he just touched my cheek the skin sort of 'sloughed' off. That is the skin thinning due to Pred.

This is def not anything like thrush, but I obv notice it happening. I can literally skin my mouth and tongue in ribbons of the stuff. Also it seems to happen every few days, and I get a very sore mouth and can't stand strong flavours when it happens. (PS, I am not related to a snake!)

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As I am very bored now that my exams are over I did comprehensive serch of medical databases (Ovid, embase, pubmed, medline you name it).

Unfortunately I didn't managed to find a single article linking teeth decay with prednisolone or any steroids for that matter. If it idid not show up in any of those listings it probably do not exist. It does not mean though that there is no link, just that anyone has written about it yet.

Sorry I could not be of more help.

[KateMoss]

Hi Sus,

I too have had problems over the years with tooth decay despite being on a low sugar and very healthy diet. I have most back teeth filled, teeth also break off the fillings, I now have 2 crowns as well - grrrrr!

One dentist suggested it could be Ventolin Inhalers & nebs etc but I am not sure of that theory.

Also, it has been noted that people who breathe through their mouth alot have a higher tooth decay because mouth breathing dries the mouth and creates a more suitable habitat for the bad bacteria where as a nice moist mouth is less friendly to bad bacteria.

So perhaps all that gasping and struggling to breathe causes our toothy problems

Kate

XXX

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Somewhere, and I will dig it out, I have the print out of a similar thread from the message board in days of old. I have had problems with my teeth for a long while and was really relieved when I found the thread with lots of other people saying they had similar problems. All dental people I have spoken to have always said that my asthma medication can't affect my teeth, but since pred and others have had so many other adverse affects, I can't see why it isn't possible/probable. Particularly when I go to such lengths to look after my teeth, it is very annoying to be told that problems could be avoided with better care. If there isn't any research, maybe there should be!

[Arniemouse]

Sus am convinced of link with teeth. In my last episode my teeth started dying inside and had lots of root canals which never worked cause got infected and pulled out have few back teeth now. This time on pred same again have lost another 2 or 3. Previous dentist was fascinated. Think it must be linked cause in between and off pred no problems at all.

Den

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I've had problems with the enamel on my teeth and my dentist now (newish to me) says its definitely linked to the steroid tablets (any kind)!

As he put it both bones and teeth contain calcium and steroids can and do reduce calcium hence the Fosamax and calcichew stuff we take for our bones is just as important for teeth too!

Or thats what he said!

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Also acid reflux will rot the teeth and I know most of us have to

take various meds for it so that will also have an inpact on your teeth as well as your general health.

[Moose1]

I know what u mean about problems with teeth, i have problems too but from a genetic fault rather than pred. But like Wheezer said, surely it has to come down to pred affecting the calcium in your bones? It's calcium that helps to keep teeth healthy. Ever mention it to dr or con?

Christine