TY - JOUR ID - TI - Oro-facial manifestations, microbial study and salivary enzyme analysis in patients with â-Thalassemia Major AU - Malath N. Ja’afar ملاذ نبيل جعفر AU - Fawaz D. Al-Aswad فواز الاسود PY - 2012 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 52 EP - 56 JO - Journal of baghdad college of dentistry مجلة كلية طب الاسنان بغداد SN - 18171869 23115270 AB - Background: Thalassemia is a hereditary anemia resulting from defects in hemoglobin production. Beta Thalassemia,caused by a decrease in the production of â-globin chains, affects multiple organs and associated withconsiderable morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of oro-facial manifestations,isolating and identifying different microorganisms (aerobic, anaerobic and fungi) from oral micro flora and to detectthe enzyme level in saliva of Aspartate Aminotransferase (AST) and Alanine Aminotransferase (ALT) in â-thalassemiapatients and compare with healthy control.Materials & methods: The study samples consist of (56) â-thalassemia major patients, (25) healthy group of both sexes,with age range from (10-30) years.Results: The most frequent Oro-facial manifestation in patients with â-thalassemia major in our study was saddle nose,rodent face and maxillary protrusion respectively.the main bacterial isolates were á-hemolytic streptococci,Neisseria, Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus albus. Anaerobic bacteria like Peptostreptococcus and fungilike Candida albicans were identified. A highly significant difference was found between thalassaemic patients andcontrols regarding AST&ALT. this study showed a non significant difference in the prevalence of micro-organismsbetween patients with â-thalassemia major and healthy control, except for Neisseria. A highly significant differenceof AST and ALT enzymes in thalassemia patients founded as compared to healthy control.Conclusions: Frequent oral examination and application of oral preventive measures for thalassaemic patients ismandatory.

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