Oral symptoms in bulimia nervosa A survey of 34 cases

Abstract

Bulimia nervosa is increasingly recognized as an eating disorder with significant medical and dental complications, including increased caries rate, thermal hypersensitivity, enamel erosion, xerostomia, and parotid gland hypertrophy. This article reviews the oral manifestations in bulimia nervosa and presents a questionnaire study of oral symptoms in 34 women with bulimia nervosa. Twenty-three (68%) of the subjects reported dental symptoms, such as hypersensitive teeth (47%), tooth pain (18%), dental fractures (6%), and subjectively increased caries rate (29%). Twelve women (35%) reported dry mouth or dry eyes as a daily experience, and 10 (29%) reported intermittent parotid gland swelling. To the author's knowledge, this is the first report that evaluates the frequency of subjectively experienced oral symptoms in bulimia nervosa.

Key Words:

• Dental hypersensitivity
• parotid gland hypertrophy
• questionnaire survey
• tooth pain