Prevalence of tooth discoloration in thalassaemia major

This study aims at determining the prevalence of teeth discoloration among thalassaemia major patients and comparing with matched age and sex of non thalassaemic patients. The study included (35) thalassaemic patients and (35) non thalassaemic control group, all aged (14-22) years. Examination of the patients for collection of discoloration data was performed clinically after cleaning the teeth with flour of pumice in a webbed rubber cup. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences in the prevalence of tooth discoloration between the two groups. The level of tooth discoloration in thalassaemic patients is higher than that in the control group, and generally the discoloration is more obvious in anterior teeth.