23 January 2019

---

Eruption of deciduous teeth and appearance of fever: is there really a correlation?

Lara Figini

---

INTRODUCTION 
The dental eruption is a natural physiological process that begins with the first deciduous tooth between 4 and 10 months and is completed normally, for milk teething, within 30 months of the child's age.
The primary teeth eruption process is often associated with some symptoms, including: irritability, gingival inflammation, increased salivation, restless sleep, diarrhea, loss of appetite and fever. Among these symptoms the most reported by parents and paediatricians is fever. Fever is defined as body temperature above 98.6 ° F (37 ° C). 

The question concerning the correlation between fever and the eruption of deciduous teeth has been widely debated in the literature, but nowadays it finds controversial answers. In a systematic review published in the International Journal of Clinical Pediatric Dentistry, the authors try to give an answer.  

MATERIALS AND METHODS 
This literature search was performed using Pubmed, MEDLINE, the Web of Science, the Scopus and the Cochrane register, and found only 83 studies to address this issue. Of these, only 6 studies were included, as they reported the results as dichotomous data and did not present patients with systemic diseases.  

RESULTS
The studies were divided according to the measurement method of body temperature: axillary, rectal, oral, frontal, tympanic, by dermal contact. In the overall evaluation of the meta-analysis, no association was found [OR = 1.32 (0.88-1.96)] between fever and deciduous dental eruption. However, considering the individual categories, only in the study in which the rectal method for measuring fever was used, was found a real association [OR = 2.82 (1.55-5.14)] between fever and deciduous dental eruption.  

CONCLUSIONS 
In the current literature there are few congruous and reliable studies concerning the association between deciduous dental eruption and fever, and those few traced are characterized by high heterogeneity between them.
However, this recent revision showed a true association between fever and primary tooth eruption only if the body temperature was measured at the rectal level. Further studies are needed to shed light on this relationship using temperature measurement parameters and tools that are homogeneous to each other.    

For addition information: 
Association between Fever and Primary Tooth Eruption: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Italian version: http://www.odontoiatria33.it/pedodonzia/16066/eruzione-dei-denti-da-latte-e-comparsa-di-febbre-associazione-reale.html