PEDIATRIC ASTHMA, ALLERGY & IMMUNOLOGY Volume 15, Number 1, 2001 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. Dental Caries in Children with Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria in Israel N. SEGAL, M.D., 1 Y. LEVY, M.D., 1 J. KATZ, D.M.D., 2 and Y.L. DANON, M.D. 1 ABSTRACT Most cases of chronic urticaria in children are idiopathic. Chronic focal infections of the si- nuses or oral cavity have been mentioned as a cause of chronic urticaria because of the per- sistent antigenic stimulation. To investigate whether children with chronic idiopathic ur- ticaria (CIU) have a higher prevalence and total experience of dental caries than other children in Israel, oral examination was performed to determine decay, missing, filled-teeth (DMFT) scores in 25 children with CIU (mean age, 11.76 6 3.84 years) and 50 children with perennial allergic rhinitis (PAR) (mean age, 12.57 6 3.29 years). The results of both groups were compared with reference data from another study on 12-year-old schoolchildren in Is- rael (n 5 762). DMFT scores were 2.84 6 3.18 in the CIU group, 1.56 6 1.77 in the PAR group (p 5 0.07), and 2.99 6 2.7 in the reference group (p 5 0.80). The difference between the PAR and reference groups was statistically significant (p 5 0.001). Twenty-eight percent of the children with CIU were caries-free, compared with 44% of the children with PAR and 21.2% of the reference group (p 5 0.18, 0.41, respectively). The difference between the PAR and the reference groups was statistically significant (p , 0.0001). In summary, chil- dren with CIU have a total caries experience similar to that of the nonselected pediatric pop- ulation in Israel. Their DMFT score is slightly higher than those in children with PAR, but without statistical significance. The results of this study do not support an association be- tween chronic urticaria and dental caries in children. (Pediatr Asthma Allergy Immunol 2001; 15[1]:43–47.) INTRODUCTION C HILDHOOD CHRONIC URTICARIA is a common disorder characterized by the appearance of hives on a con- tinuous or frequently recurrent basis for more than 6 weeks. (1) In some cases, the causative factors are identified, and include infections, drugs, autoimmune thyroid disease, or physical stimuli. (2–5) In others, the etiology remains obscure. (6) Chronic focal infections of the sinuses or oral cavity have been mentioned as a possible cause of chronic 43 1 Kipper Institute of Allergy and Immunology, Schneider Children’s Medical Center of Israel, Petah Tiqva; and Sack- ler Faculty of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel. 2 Faculty of Dental Medicine, Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel.