Proposal for a Short Patch Test Series of Dental Materials for Patients with Suspected Oral Contact Allergy

Abstract

The selection of patch test haptens contained in oral rehabilitation materials is not an easy task, therefore baseline series and additional dental series are used for screening and to increase the chance for the detection of patient's contact sensitizations. Moreover, the clinical relevance of positive patch tests must be evaluated. We conducted a biomedical literature search, covering a period of thirty years, using the keywords: contact, allergy, dental, allergens, patch, patients, screening, in order to evaluate many studies including large numbers of patients, tested to various hapten series, in different departments, for the detection of the most common contact allergens involved in dental contact hypersensitivity. We propose a short patch test series of oral rehabilitation materials for patients including six metal haptens present in dental alloys for inlays, crowns, bridges and dentures, one monofunctional methacrylate and one epoxy prepolymer present in dental composite resins, dentin bonding agents and prosthetic materials, one epoxy resin type present in root canal sealants, three odorant constituents contained in provisional restorative and root canal filling materials, periodontal dressings and dental impression materials. Contact allergy to dental haptens is a constant studied subject, but the cost of patch testing with screening and additional or extensive series is relevant, therefore the proposal of a shorter dental material series for patients is aimed to promote sustainability of oral rehabilitation and contact hypersensitivity care and to reduce costs in some real-world settings.