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Iranian J Publ Health, Vol. 42, No. 10, Oct 2013, p.1199 Letter to the Editor
1199 Available at: http://ijph.tums.ac.ir
Intestinal Parasites and Bruxism in Children
Maryam HAJENOROUZALI TEHRANI
1,* Leyli SADRI
2, Gholamreza MOWLAVI
3
1. Dept. of Pediatric Dentistry, Torabinejad Dental Research Center, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
2. Students Research Center, School of Dentistry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran
3. Dept. of Medical Parasitology & Mycology, School of Public Health,
Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran
*Corresponding Author: Email: sadri.leyli@yahoo.com
(Received 12 Sep 2013; accepted 27 Sep 2013)
Dear Editor-in-Chief
There has been a widespread debate over the exist-
ence of a relationship between intestinal parasites
and bruxism. While some authors suggested that
parasites may play a role in bruxism (1-5), others do
not confirm this association (6). Since detection of
etiology of bruxism in every patient seems to be
necessary to make an effective treatment plan, and
bruxism may be an early sign of parasitic infections
which can potentially lead to serious complications
in future, We investigated the frequency
distribution of intestinal parasites among infected
bruxist children as well as the prevalence of
bruxism in this rural area (Falavarjan) which is a
hyperendemic region of parasitic infections. In a
cross-sectional descriptive study, we recruited 3-6
year-old children (n=4964) from rural areas of
Falavarjan district. Bruxism was assessed by a
questionnaire and a face to face interview with
parents. Parasitosis was determined by stool exam
and scotch tape test. The diagnostic parasitological
exam included direct, formol-ether concentration,
scotch tape and staining methods. There were 427
children with bruxism which means the prevalence
was 8.6%. The prevalence of intestinal parasitic
infections (pathogenic and/or non-pathogenic)
among these bruxist rural children was 15.7%.
According to T-paired test the mean number of
infected and non-infected children were 4.59 1.1
and 4.54 1.2, respectively. We observed that the
difference between two age groups was not
statistically significant (P=0.76).
Taken together, it can be concluded that although
parasitic infection was a prevalent problem of 3-6
year-old children with bruxism in our samples, our
results suggest that parasitic infections may not lead
to bruxism, and there is no causative relationship
between bruxism and intestinal parasitic infections.
Acknowledgements
The authors declare that there is no conflict of
interest.
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