Drooling: a narrative review of effects on children oral health

Aim: drooling is an uncontrolled overflowing of saliva from the mouth. It is considered a pathologic condition if it persists after the age of 4 years. It is mainly due to neurological diseases, like cerebral palsy, or local orofacial problems, like lip incompetency, oral breathing, macroglossia and atypical swallowing reflex. The aim of this work is to evaluate consequences of drooling and its treatment to improve children's oral health. Methods: a review of the literature was conducted through PubMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases, to identify articles concerning drooling and oral health. Results: children affected by drooling may suffer of perioral skin breakdown and infections (candidiasis in particular). Patients undergoing salivary glands surgery to treat drooling, presented higher percentages of white spot lesions because of the reduced salivary flow rate and higher salivary osmolality. Pseudo-bulbar palsy, orofacial incoordination and hypotonia, which are often correlated to drooling, may present a higher risk of developing malocclusions with prominent maxillary incisors and incompetent lips. Those factors represent local risks that further predisposing to dental trauma. Conclusions: children pathologically affected by drooling are of-ten affected by a cluster of conditions that compromise the oral health beside drooling itself. Surgery treatment can lead to higher white spot prevalence with the connected weakening of the enamel. A particularly careful follow up by a dental practitioner may be needed to prevent the development of oral diseases.