EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF PAEDIATRIC DENTISTRY VOL. 18/1-2017 69 D. Olczak-Kowalczyk*, M. Danko**, E. Banaś**, D. Gozdowski***, K. Popińska**, E. Krasuska-Sławińska****, J. Książyk** *Medical University of Warsaw, Department of Paediatric Dentistry, 18 Miodowa St, Warsaw, Poland **Department of Paediatrics and Nutrition, Children’s Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland ***Department of Experimental Statistics and Bioinformatics, Warsaw University of Life Science, Warsaw, Poland ****Dental Outpatient Clinic, Children’s Memorial Health Institute, Warsaw, Poland email: do-k@o2.pl ABSTRACT Aim Assessment of dentition in children under parenteral nutrition, risk factors for caries, and dental developmental abnormalities. Material and method The study involved 63 patients (aged 2.25–16.6 years), i.e. 32 subjects receiving parenteral nutrition for a mean period of 5.6±2.94 years, and 31 healthy control subjects. Oral hygiene (OHI-S, PL-I), gingival (GI), and dentition status (caries, DMFT/dmft, enamel defects, shape alterations), frequency of oral meals and frequency of cariogenic snacks consumption were evaluated. Medical records provided information on parenteral meals per week, age parenteral nutrition started, birth body mass, Apgar score, weight deficiency, and antibiotic therapy until aged 1 year. The Mann- Whitney test, chi-squared test, and Spearman rank correlation coefficient were used (p≤0.05). Results Dental developmental abnormalities occurred more often in PN subjects (71.87% vs. 25.80%). The prevalence of caries in PN (56.25% vs. 90.32%) and dmft (2.00±3.30 vs. 4.21±3.33) and DMFT (2.47±4.08 vs. 3.33±3.50) were lower. Positive caries Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients: frequency of oral meals and frequency of cariogenic snacks consumption, and GI. Negative correlation coefficients: low birth body mass, antibiotic therapy, and low body mass in the first year of life. Positive dental developmental abnormality Spearman’s coefficients: low birth body mass, Apgar score < 7, parenteral nutrition duration, low body mass and antibiotic therapy in the first year of life. Beta-lactam, aminoglycoside, glycopeptide and nitroimidazole treatments were related to enamel hypoplasia. Conclusion Parenteral nutrition in childhood is related to the risk of dental developmental abnormalities, promoted by malnutrition and antibiotic therapy in infancy. Limiting the number of meals and cariogenic snacks, and most probably administration of antibiotics, decreases the risk of caries. Parenteral nutrition in childhood and consequences for dentition and gingivae Keywords Caries prevalence; Dental developmental abnormalities; Parenteral nutrition. Introduction For the past 30 years, chronic parenteral nutrition has been granting survival to patients with gastrointestinal impairment [Popi ska et al. 2012]. In Poland, at the beginning of 2012, 165 paediatric patients were under a home parenteral nutrition programme. The most frequent indications of parenteral nutrition in children are: short bowel syndrome, chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease, and chronic diarrhea. Short bowel syndrome (anatomical or functional loss of more than 50% of small intestine) might be a consequence of congenital gastrointestinal disorders (congenital ileal atresia, volvulus caused by defects in mesenteric attachments), and resection of a part of the gastrointestinal tract in necrotising entercolitis or gastroschisis [Sigalet, 2001]. Parenteral nutrition consists in feeding carbohydrates, lipids, amino acids, and macro- and microelements to a person intravenously through a permanently implanted tunnelled venous port, with its extremity in the superior vena cava, at the right border of the heart [Pittiruti et al. 2009]. Parenteral nutrition can be a lifelong process, and sometimes the only way to provide nutrition, which should be meeting energy needs for various substances. Patients able to intake food by mouth receive partial parenteral nutrition, where the parenteral supply of energy and nitrogen together with electrolytes, calcium, phosphorus, trace elements and vitamins cover no more than 50% of the daily amount [Shulman and Philip, 2003]. Selecting the right products and meals taken by mouth is an individual process, depending on the patient’s clinical condition. The recommended diet takes into account age and rational nutrition principles. However, nutrient intake by mouth depends on the