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Background. Dental caries is initiated through mineral dissolution by bacterial acids and collagen de gradation by endogenous proteolytic enzymes, mainly collagenolytic matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs).Objectives. The present research aimed to evaluate the relationship between severe early childhood caries (SECC) and salivary MMP8 and MMP20 concentrations.Material and methods. Fifty children aged 36-60 months were assigned to either the cariesfree (control) group or the SECC group. Standard clinical examinations were performed, and approx. 1 mL of expectorated unstimulated whole saliva was collected from all participants. In the SECC group, the sampling was repeated 3 months after restorative treatment. All samples were analyzed for the salivary concentrations of MMP8 and MMP20, using the enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Statisti cal analysis employed the t test, the Mann-Whitney U test, the χ 2 test, Fisher's exact test, and the paired samples t test. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Results.At baseline, the subjects in the SECC group presented with significantly elevated levels of MMP8 as compared to the control group. However, the salivary concentration of MMP20 did not exhibit a signifi cant difference between the 2 groups. A significant reduction occurred in the levels of MMP8 and MMP20 3 months after restorative treatment in the SECC group. Conclusions.The salivary levels of MMP8 and MMP20 were significantly affected by dental restorative treatment in children. Furthermore, MMP8 was observed to be a better indicator of the dental caries status than MMP20.