Oral and maxillofacial outcomes in children with microcephaly associated with the congenital Zika syndrome

Introduction: The objective of this study is to assess the oral and maxillofacial characteristics of microcephalic children associated with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS). Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study was carried out with 61 patients with microcephaly/CZS born between June 2015 and September 2017 (29 boys and 32 girls, average age of 22.8 months) and a control group with 58 non-CZS children born in the same period (25 boys and 33 girls, average age of 23.8 months). The functional clinical analysis considered the labial and lingual frena, tongue anterior projection, oral escape, palate form, and first tooth eruption. For the craniofacial analysis, facial anthropometric points and the cephalic perimeter at the time were measured. Demographic data were collected from medical records, and a clinical exam was performed in order to register the intrabuccal characteristics and craniofacial measures. The chisquare test and Student's t-test were used with a significance level of 0.05. Results: The narrow palate form, tongue anterior projection, oral escape, and late first tooth eruption were significantly more present in the group with microcephaly/CZS. As for the craniofacial analysis, face width (Bi-Zi), mandible width (Go-Go), height of face upper third (Tr-G), and monthly growth of cephalic perimeter were significantly smaller, whereas height of face lower third (Sn-Gn) was significantly bigger in the group with microcephaly/CZS (P< 0.05). Conclusion: Children with microcephaly resulting from a congenital Zika infection showed functional, oral, and maxillofacial changes and smaller facial development in comparison with non-CZS children in the same age group.

Automated summary

This study assessed the oral and maxillofacial characteristics of microcephalic children associated with congenital Zika syndrome (CZS) and compared them with non-CZS children. Results showed that narrow palate form, tongue anterior projection, oral escape, and late first tooth eruption were significantly more present in the microcephaly/CZS group, with differences also found in craniofacial measures.