During my residency program at Children’s Hospital, Boston along with Dr. Howard Needleman (one of the retired founding partners of Chestnut Dental) and two of the Gastroenterology attendings Rachel Rosen and Dr. Sam Nurko we published an article about reflux disease and tooth erosion.
The summary of the findings are gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) occurs in 2-25% of the general pediatric population. Tooth erosion (TE) is considered one of the symptoms of GERD. GERD is often symptomless and tooth erosion is the only indication of GERD. This is the first study to use an impedance monitor (a test which measures both acid and nonacid reflux) to analyze the relationship between acid and nonacid reflux and tooth erosion. This study shows a positive correlation between tooth erosion and acid reflux only.
Sincerely,
Dr. Anne Hertzberg
Pediatric Dentist, Needham & Bedford offices
