UQ rescuing kids’ teeth from asthma effects

A University of Queensland health research team is working to find natural solutions to the havoc wrought by asthma-induced corrosion on children’s teeth.

While asthma’s respiratory effects are widely known, more than half of Australia’s asthmatics may also suffer the painful effects of dramatic dental erosion and decay.

The link, according to principal investigator Dr William George Young of UQ’s School of Dentistry, is that the primary medications used to treat and manage asthma have the unfortunate side-effect of reducing the oral fluids – such as saliva – that naturally protect the teeth.

They may also cause gastric acid reflux (suffered by 60% of asthmatics), which has a similar corrosive effect on children’s teeth as soft drink and cola.

Dr Young explained that dental erosion – unlike decay – could not be prevented by plaque removal or fluoride in the water, hence his team was seeking natural solutions to the problem.

“What we are looking at is developing natural methods of saliva stimulation that will provide asthmatics with the extra protection they need,” Dr Young said.

“In collaboration with Dr Peter Davies of the Children’s Nutrition Research Centre (CNRC) at Brisbane’s Royal Children’s Hospital, we are investigating appropriate strategies of diet analysis and advice.

“Ultimately, the outcomes of this research will assist parents and children to cope with the dental consequences of asthma management, and hopefully give asthmatic children a much better foundation for oral health in adulthood.”

Dr Young is a widely published author of research papers based on more than 15 years of diagnosing and managing toothwear conditions. He has been invited to address the International Association for Dental Research Symposium in California next March.

Co-researcher Dr Peter Davies, who is Scientific Director of the CNRC and an Associate Professor in Paediatrics and Child Health at UQ, won the British Nutrition Society Medal in 1991.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT BILL YOUNG ON 3870 7605 OR CARRIE SCHOFIELD ON 3346 4713.