Association Of Cervical Lymphadenopathy and Dental Decay Among Extra-Pulmonary Tuberculosis Patients: A Preliminary Descriptive Survey (Research Article)

Author(s): Alagusundaram Pandi, Mayandi Masanam, Asharaja Antony Cruz, Boothapandi Madakkannu, Muthukumar Sivaramapillai, Uma Raja Rethinam, Sreelaja Sukumaran, Baburajan Radha

Abstract: Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the most prevalent diseases among the developing countries. Extra-pulmonary TB infections (EPTB) remain an unexplored domain in this discipline. One of the common manifestations of EPTB is Cervical Lymphadenopathy (CL). Efficient diagnostic criteria, which could reliably foretell the onset of CL prior hand could enable timely diagnosis of EPTB hence effective therapeutic intervention. Hence this present study assesses the association of CL with Tooth decay and other clinical and demographic factors among the patients (N=25) suspected of EPTB infections. We have observed significant association (χ2 = 7.639; p = 0.006; Fisher’s Exact test=0.120) of dental decay with CL. In addition, significant association was observed between the age of the patients with their diabetic status (χ2 = 15.863; p=0.001; Fisher’s Exact test=0.001). This investigation sincerely anticipates future studies with larger sample size in this endeavor finding associative markers. Altogether, these results could shed certain light on reliable prognostic criteria in the context of dental health among the EPTB patients.

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