engleski

Smell and taste in titanium and nickel allergic sensitization in orthodontic patients

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of the allergic sensitization to titanium and nickel in patients undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances and to evaluate whether sensitized subjects have altered sense of smell and taste. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 250 subjects undergoing orthodontic treatment were invited to participate and 245 accepted. Age range was 11 to 45 years (median 18, interquartile range 16-22), 68% were females and 52% adolescents. Epicutaneous patch test included nickel sulfate, titanium, titanium dioxide, titanium oxalate and titanium nitride. Out of the patch test positive subjects, 26 consented to participate in testing of taste and smell and were matched by age and sex with 26 patch test negative subjects. Taste Strips and Sniffin' Sticks (Burghart Messtechnik, Wedel, Germany) were used. RESULTS: Prevalence of the allergic sensitization to titanium and/or nickel in orthodontic patients was 15.5% (95% CI 11.5- 20.6%). The sense of taste and smell were more impaired in sensitized subjects (p≤0.025), sense of taste was more affected than sense of smell, and the most affected taste was sour, while the taste of sweet was least impaired. CONCLUSION: Allergy to titanium is more uncommon than allergic sensitization to nickel with altered sense of smell and taste related to those allergies. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Even though allergy to titanium is not frequent, there are still patients with positive allergic sensitization. Also if sense of smell and taste are related to those allergies they could serve as screening for allergic patients.

allergy ; titanium ; nickel ; orthodontics ; taste ; smell

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