Vascular Injury during a Lumbar Laminectomy

Background: The purposes of this study were to examine the oral tissues and caries prevalenceof children undergoing liver transplantation, and to evaluate the relationshipbetween tooth staining and serum bilirubin level.Methods: Thirty-four children (22 boys and 12 girls) under the age of 6 years with endstageliver disease were referred from the Liver Transplantation Center atKaohsiung Chang Gung Children's Hospital, Taiwan. Oral tissues wereexamined, and photographs taken to determine the green staining of the teethand gingiva. A questionnaire was completed by their parents. Serum bilirubinlevels were collected preoperatively in these children. Student's t-testwas used to compare the mean decayed, missing, and filled tooth (dmft) differencebetween night-fed and non-night-fed groups, and to test the relationshipsbetween tooth staining and serum bilirubin levels.Results: The caries prevalence of the 34 children undergoing liver transplantation was61.8%. The mean dmft score of children 2 to 6 years old who were night-fedwas significantly higher than that of children who were not (10.1