Background: Molar incisor hypomineralization (MIH) is an idiopathic syndrome that has been associated with several etiologic factors. The authors' objective was to systematically review studies in which the investigators had studied how the etiology of MIH was related to medication intake.
Types of studies reviewed: The search covered a period from January 1, 1965, to September 29, 2014. The search revealed 1,042 articles, to which the authors applied eligibility criteria and selected 20 studies for review. The authors considered 9 of the 20 studies to be high quality. The drugs used in these studies were chemotherapeutic drugs, antibiotics, asthma drugs, antiepileptic drugs, antiviral drugs, antifungal drugs, and antiparasitic drugs.
Results: Two reviewers independently performed risk-of-bias assessment and data extraction. The investigators of all of the studies had reported enamel defects, but only 2 sets of investigators had used the term "molar incisor hypomineralization." Owing to the different methodologies used by the investigators of the selected studies, the authors could not perform a meta-analysis of the study results.
Conclusions: More well-designed prospective studies are needed to clarify the relationship between MIH and medication.
Practical implications: It would be convenient to establish a preventive protocol in patients with a potential risk of developing MIH to avoid the complications that are characteristic of this disease.
Keywords: Enamel hypoplasia; drugs; enamel defects; enamel hypomineralization; enamel opacities; molar incisor hypomineralization.
Copyright © 2016 American Dental Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.