Dental hygiene and therapeutics of 61 children with congenital heart disease (CHD) seen at the dental clinic of Chiba Children's Hospital were discussed.
Their ages ranged from 1 to 17 years, the average being 7.5 years. The incidence of carious deciduous teeth of CHD children was higher than that of normal Japanese children reported by The Health Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare, Japan (1987).
There were no essential differences in caries incidence between the cyanotic (37 cases) and the acyanotic group (24 cases). Furthermore, severe cyanotic children did not always have a large number of carious teeth.
According to the questionnaires filled out, parents of CHD children had comparatively poor recognition of the oral hygiene of their children. These results lead to the conclusion that strong dental care and parents concern are more necessary for CHD than for normal children.