Comparison of dentofacial findings in sickle cell anemia patients and controls among a tribal population in Kerala – A cross-sectional study

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Aim: (1) To diagnose by clinical inspection the dental and craniofacial skeletal anomalies in sickle cell anemia (SCA) patients of the particular tribal population. (2) To compare the clinical findings with normal controls of the same population. Materials and Methods: A study sample of 52 SCA patients and a control sample of 52 non-SCA patients, both belonging to the tribal communities of the area, were selected by nonrandom purposive sampling from the patients attending the Public Health Centre and Dental Outpatient Department of the Government Tribal Hospital of that region. Permission was duly taken through proper channels from the competent authorities. The study design was a comparative cross-sectional study using nonrandom purposive sampling. The study sample consisted of confirmed SCA patients above 18 years of age of both sexes and belonging to any tribe of the region. Results: Statistical analysis was performed using the Chi-square test for categorical variables and Student's t-test for quantitative variables. Frontal bossing, numb chin syndrome, diastemata, and ischemic pulp involvement were absent in both the study and control groups. Intraoral findings such as the inclination of incisors, overjet, and overbite were tabulated and analyzed statistically. Conclusion: The data obtained were proposed to be used to formulate a plan for 17 prevention and treatment of the anomalies through timely intervention. Furthermore, the patients need 18 to be made aware of the relationship between these pathologies and SCA. Of the ten features that 19 were examined, only retroclination of incisors showed a significant difference from the control 20 groups. This could be attributed to the lip pressure on the maxilla. However, it did not affect 21 esthetics or function, and therefore, no intervention was required.