Dental considerations in patients with liver disease

Introduction: Liver diseases are very common, and the main underlying causes are viral infections, alcohol abuse and lipid and carbohydrate metabolic disorders. The liver has a broad range of functions in maintaining homeostasis and health, and moreover metabolizes many drug substances. Objective: An update is provided on the oral manifestations seen in patients with viral hepatitis, alcoholic and non-alcoholic liver disease, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and on the dental management of such patients. Material and methods: A Medline-PubMed search was conducted of the literature over the last 15 years using the keywords: “hepatitis”, “alcoholic hepatitis”, “fatty liver”, “cirrhosis…