Signs and Symptoms of Primary Tooth Eruption: A Meta-analysis

Context: Symptoms associated with the primary tooth eruption have been extensively studied but it is still controversial.

Objective: To assess the occurrence of local and systemic signs and symptoms during primary tooth eruption.

Data sources: Latin American and Caribbean Health Sciences, PubMed, ProQuest, Scopus, and Web of Science were searched. A partial gray literature search was taken by using Google Scholar and the reference lists of the included studies were scanned.

Study selection: Observational studies assessing the association of eruption of primary teeth with local and systemic signs and symptoms in children aged 0 to 36 months were included.

Data extraction: Two authors independently collected the information from the selected articles. Information was crosschecked and confirmed for its accuracy.

Results: A total of 1179 articles were identified, and after a 2-phase selection, 16 studies were included. Overall prevalence of signs and symptoms occurring during primary tooth eruption in children between 0 and 36 months was 70.5% (total sample = 3506). Gingival irritation (86.81%), irritability (68.19%), and drooling (55.72%) were the most frequent ones.

Limitations: Different general symptoms were considered among studies. Some studies presented lack of confounding factors, no clear definition of the diagnostics methods, use of subjective measures and long intervals between examinations.

Conclusions: There is evidence of the occurrence of signs and symptoms during primary tooth eruption. For body temperature analyses, eruption could lead to a rise in temperature, but it was not characterized as fever.