"The word "pica" is derived from the Latin word, pīca, which means magpie 4. This is due to the bird's tendency to collect a variety of objects and the belief that it could eat anything. The condition was first documented by the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BCE) in the fourth century BCE 4."
"The word "pica" is derived from the Latin word, pīca, which means magpie 4. This is due to the bird's tendency to collect a variety of objects and the belief that it could eat anything. The condition was first documented by the Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BCE) in the fourth century BCE 4."
"Pica refers to a psychiatric disorder in which patients report a craving for and compulsive consumption of substances that are not food. Substances consumed include earth, clay, plaster, paint chips, string, hair, animal faeces and stones 1."
"In some cases, pica only comes to the attention of clinicians due to complications such as intestinal obstruction/perforation, infections or poisoning 3. Dental complications such as caries, enamel erosion or abrasion, loss of vertical dimension occlusion and cracked teeth may also be present 2."