Oral diseases caused by taking medicine (Part 2)

In the previous article, we simply introduced two relatively common oral diseases caused by taking medicines. In fact, there are indeed many oral diseases caused by taking medicines, and their essence is adverse drug events (ADEs) reflected in the oral organs.

1 Oral ADE is more complicated than imagined

It goes without saying that drugs are an important weapon for humans to defeat diseases. But what is frustrating is that, as the saying goes, "Success or failure depends on Xiao He", the impact of drugs on human health is not entirely positive, and sometimes there are negative effects.

ADE is a general term for the "unfriendly" performance of drugs on human health, that is, adverse results that occur when patients take drugs but may not be caused by the drugs. A very common category is the well-known adverse drug reactions, that is, harmful reactions unrelated to the treatment purpose that occur when drugs are used according to normal usage and dosage in the process of preventing, diagnosing or treating diseases , including side effects .

ADEs reflected in oral organs are not simple and include dry mouth, lichenoid reactions, ulcers, bullous diseases, pigmentation, fibrovascular proliferation, white lesions, dysesthesia, bone necrosis, infection, angioedema, and even malignant tumors (see the table below).

Source: References

2 Medications that may cause dry mouth

Medication is a common cause of hyposalivation/dry mouth, and dry mouth is listed as an adverse effect of more than 500 drugs. The most commonly reported classes of drugs that may cause hyposalivation are antidepressants , antipsychotics , antihistamines , muscarinic receptor and α-receptor antagonists , antihypertensives (such as diuretics, β-blockers, and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors), bronchodilators , and skeletal muscle relaxants . In addition, chemotherapeutic agents, appetite suppressants , decongestants , antimigraine drugs, opioids , benzodiazepines , hypnotics , histamine 2 (H2) receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors , systemic retinoid therapy , anti-human immunodeficiency virus drugs , and cytokine therapy may also be causative factors.

Source: References

3 Oral health problems caused by dry mouth

Continuous insufficient saliva secretion will cause a series of health problems in the oral cavity: ① Tooth decay and acid erosion mentioned in the previous article, these two problems are mainly related to the weakening of the buffering effect (acid-base balance) of saliva; ② Oral Candida infection and bacterial sialadenitis , these two problems are mainly related to the weakening of the antibacterial effect of saliva; ③ Difficulty in chewing and swallowing, and the oral mucosa is more easily injured when rubbing against the teeth, etc., which are all related to the weakening of the lubricating effect of saliva.

Sometimes one health problem really does lead to another, thus forming a vicious cycle of disease.

References

[1] Yuan A, WooSB. Adverse Drug Events in the Oral Cavity[J]. Dermatol Clin, 2020, 38(4): 523-533.