Evaluation of the Relationship Between Salivary Levels of S. Mutans, Statherin and Cathelicidin LL-37 and Early Childhood Caries
Project no. 21020 · Status: Kapanmış (Yayın bekleniyor) · 2019
Summary
Early childhood caries is an infectious disease that is common in young children and causes many problems. Determining the risk of caries in children and preventing caries before they occur is very important in terms of preventing future caries. Nowadays, the importance of antimicrobial proteins in saliva in the risk of caries has become a current issue which isn’t certain and there are limited number of studies on this subject in the literature about children. In our study, we aimed to compare the salivary statherin and cathelicidin LL-37 protein levels, salivary Streptococcus mutans levels, oral hygiene and nutritional habits of 68 children between the ages of 4-6 with active caries and without caries, and to evaluate the relationship between these factors and the presence of caries. In our study, intraoral examination of 34 children with caries and 34 children without caries were performed, the dmfs index was recorded, and questionnaire was applied to the parents to evaluate the feeding and oral hygiene habits of their children. At the same time, levels of Streptococcus mutans, statherin and cathelicidin LL-37 proteins in nonstimulated saliva collected from children were measured, the data was statistically analyzed. As a result of the statistical evaluation, no statistically significant difference was found between the carious and noncarious groups in terms of nutrition and oral hygiene habits. The consumption of foods or beverages containing sugar more than 3 times a day was statistically significantly higher in the group with caries compared to the group without caries. When the saliva parameters were examined, the mean saliva Streptococcus mutans and saliva cathelisidin LL-37 levels were found to be significantly higher in patients with caries compared to the patients without caries, but no statistically significant difference was found in terms of saliva statherin levels. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between mean dmfs values and mean saliva Streptococcus mutans and saliva cathelisidin LL-37 levels, but no significant relationship was found between the saliva statherin level. In addition, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between the consumption of sugar-containing food or drink more than 3 times a day and the level of saliva Streptococcus mutans. It could be concluded that our study has shown the relationship of early childhood caries with nutrition, oral hygiene habits and salivary parameters. However, further new studies supporting our data on this topic are required in which more children are involved.