Evidence update: reports do not establish COVID-19 as a cause of tooth loss
Early media reports and individual anecdotes cannot establish that SARS-CoV-2 directly caused teeth to loosen or fall out. Periodontitis, smoking, pre-existing bone loss, delayed dental attendance, trauma and other systemic or local disease are important alternative explanations. COVID-19 has been associated with several oral symptoms, but painless tooth loss is not a recognised diagnostic feature and requires a full periodontal, dental and medical assessment.
COVID-19 can worsen dental problems. In particular, several patients who have undergone coronavirus complained of dental problems like:
- Increased sensitivity of the teeth,
- Discoloration/Decay,
- Loss of teeth without bleeding.
Similar consequences were observed regardless of the severity of the disease. All of them will be included in the list of long-term impacts of COVID-19 to be studied.
One of the patients who underwent coronavirus in the spring said that in November one of her teeth began to loosen, and the very next day it fell out. At the same time, the blood did not stand out, the woman also did not feel pain. Before that, she had not lost a single molar tooth. It is important to note that before contracting the coronavirus, the woman already had dental problems - bone loss due to smoking. However, many patients complained of tooth loss without bleeding and increased gum sensitivity. Among them is a 12-year-old boy who did not have any dental problems. Patients most often lost their teeth while eating and brushing their teeth.
According to the head of the Angiogenesis Foundation, Dr. William W. Lee, tooth loss without blood is an unusual case that indicates problems with the vascularity of oral tissues.
“The new coronavirus attacks by binding to the ACE2 protein, which is present not only in the lungs but also in nerve and endothelial cells. It is likely that in the cases identified, the virus has damaged blood vessels in the gums that are necessary to support teeth. This may explain the fact that the patients did not feel pain when the teeth fell out, ”said Dr. Li. According to him, problems with the oral cavity after the coronavirus may also be the result of a cytokine storm.
Source: nytimes.com
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