Orofacial disformation in thalassemia patients refered to Kerman special disease center in 2007

Background and objectivesMajor β thalassemia has been reported as a high prevalence genetic disorder in Iran with some oromaxillofacial complications. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of oromaxillofacial disorder in thalassemia patients at Kerman province. Materials and MethodsIn this research, 208 patients with major β thalassemia were under study. Data were obtained by oral examination and analyzed by statistical programs of SPSS 13.5, t- test, and χ² test. ResultsOut of 208 patients with major β thalassemia, 103 were male and 105 female. The mean age was 12.48 with the range of 1-26 years. The most prevalent facies appearance in these patients was pale face (47.3%) and lower jaw protrusion had the minimum prevalence. From data analysis, it was found that 46.6% of patients had protrusion of maxilla. Results of the present study showed that the most prevalent location with pigmentation into oral cavity was gingival of labial and the locations with less prevalence were lateral border of tongue, soft palate, and floor of mouth. ConclusionsThis study showed that about 84.2% (175 cases) of all patients under consideration complained from changes in oral and Maxillofacial complications including upper and lower jaw protrusion, saddle nose, space between anterior teeth, anterior teeth protrusion, posterior malocclusion and frontal bossing. Also, it was revealed that the rate of prevalence for oral and Maxillofacial complications decreases when patients receive blood at younger ages.