Effects of anti‐epileptic drug treatment with carbamazepine or phenytoin on the oral state of children and adolescents

Oral conditions were studied in 48 children and adolescents who, during short or long periods, had been assigned to anti-epileptic drug treatment with carbamazepine or phenytoin. The individuals were diagnosed as suffering from partial seizures or generalized tonic-clonic seizures and were distributed between three test groups according to the drug selected for treatment; patients on active carbamazepine (I) or phenytoin (II) medication, and patients previously treated with phenytoin (III). Untreated, newly diagnosed epileptics served as controls. The results showed that individuals treated with carbamazepine for an average of 3 years displayed no intra-oral side-effects from the drug treatment. Compared with those on carbamazepine medication the subjects treated with phenytoin demonstrated a significantly greater number of gingival units with increased probing depths, lower saliva secretion rates and lower salivary buffer capacities. In all groups a majority of the individuals showed unsatisfactory plaque control. As a consequence of the results of the investigation it appears justified, from a dental point of view, to support carbamazepine as the first drug of choice for treatment of the types of seizures mentioned.