Awareness of HLA‐B* 15:02 screening in trigeminal neuralgia and the gene screening policy among dentists in Southern Thailand

Abstract

Objectives To determine the factors associated with public hospital dentists’ awareness of HLA‐B*15:02 screening in trigeminal neuralgia (TN) and the national gene screening policy in Thailand. Methods Cross‐sectional study. A validated questionnaire was distributed to public hospital dentists with at least 1 year of practice in Southern Thailand (n = 760) to assess their knowledge of TN, carbamazepine (CBZ) use, awareness of HLA‐B*15:02 screening, and the gene screening policy. Results A total of 385 dentists participated (50.7% response rate); 81.3% of respondents were aware of HLA‐B*15:02 screening. However, 18.7% of dentists were not aware of the importance of gene testing. Furthermore, dentists who were aware of gene screening had significantly better knowledge of TN diagnosis and CBZ use than “unaware” dentists. Awareness of HLA‐B*15:02 screening was also significantly associated with dental specialty. Moreover, 80.5% of respondents were not aware of the gene screening policy. The primary problems related to the policy were its inefficient publication, poor implementation, and lack of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) to encourage dentists to follow the policy and prescribe gene tests. Conclusion While most hospital dentists were aware of the necessity of HLA‐B*15:02 screening prior to prescribing CBZ in TN, the majority were unaware of the national gene screening policy. Dental specialty and knowledge were associated with awareness of HLA‐B*15:02 screening.

New-onset Immune-mediated Necrotizing Myopathy and Trigeminal Neuropathy after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA Vaccination in a Patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis and Sjögren's Syndrome

“…RA was shown to be associated with HLA-DR4, which was also noted in the present case, but the arthritis did not worsen after vaccination. Previous studies have shown that Sjögren's syndrome was associated with HLA-DR3 (HLA-DRB1*03, HLA-DRB1*03:01) ( 27 ), and trigeminal neuropathy was associated with HLA-B15 (HLA-B15*02) ( 28 ), but these were absent in the present case. Conversely, IMNM was shown to be associated with not only HLA-DR8 (HLA-DRB1*08:03) ( 29 ) but also HLA-DR14 (HLA-DRB1*14:03) ( 30 ), which was present in our patient.…”