Tooth loss in Sjögren’s syndrome patients compared to age and gender matched controls

Background: To analyze the prevalence and location of tooth loss in Sjögren’s syndrome (SS) patients and compare them with an age-and gender-matched control group.

Material and Methods: Dental charts and x-rays of 108 (SS) patients were retrieved from an academic dental center and special care dentistry department. For each SS patient, an age-and gender-matched non-SS patient was randomly selected. Medication, number of extractions and date and location of extractions were assessed. Differences between SS and non-SS patients were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U tests, Chi-square tests and Fisher’s exact tests.

Results: Significantly more SS patients were edentulous compared to the non-SS group (14.8% versus 1.9%, p = 0.001). SS patients had a 61% higher risk to have experienced one or more extractions than control patients. In the SS group, there was a non-significant tendency for more maxillary teeth to have been extracted than mandibular teeth (42:34). In the control group, the number of extractions in the maxilla and mandible were comparable (21:20). When divided into sextants, the number of SS patients with one or more extractions was significantly higher than for non-SS patients for each sextant (p = 0.001 to p = 0.032). The largest difference in the proportion of patients with one or more extractions between the SS and non-SS patients occurred in the upper anterior sextant (3.4 times more frequent).

Conclusions: SS patients are more prone to experience dental extractions compared to patients without SS. It could be speculated that this is related to a decreased salivary secretion.