Dental Caries and Gingivitis Associated with Mutans Streptococci among Children

Abstract

Background Dental Caries is the most prevalent oral disease among children caused by Streptococci mutans, which produces acids that cause tooth surface breakdown and subsequent formation of cavity which encourage growth of bacterial biofilms and cause the gingivitis.Objective The aim was to assess the prevalence of dental Caries and severity of gingivitis among school children and to correlate it with the Streptococcus mutans counts. Materials and Methods Five hundred and eighty (580) school children participated in this study. Dental caries was evaluated by the decayedmissing filled Index (dmft) while gingival index was used for assessed gingival health status. Snyder test was used to determine dental caries activity, Microbial counts of Streptococcus mutans were recorded for each group.Results the study indicates that the prevalence of dental caries had decreased with age from (93.2%) in group A students (7-9 years) to (88.3%) and (85.7%) in group B (10-12 years) and group C (13-15 years) respectively. The mean dmft values have increased with age from 4.5 in group A students to 4.8 in group B and 5.1 in group C. Prevalence of gingivitis increased with age, the mean gingival score were between 1.7 and 2.2. The count of Streptococcus mutans had been increased with age ranged from 4.2×104 cfu/ml to 2×105 cfu/ml and children with severe inflammation gingivitis are more likely to have high counts of Streptococcus mutans. Conclusion Bad oral hygiene and moderate gingivitis are highly prevalent among school children. No correlation was found between the mean dmft and the number of Streptococcus mutans (cfu), High Streptococcus mutans levels showed directly co-associated with increased severity of gingivitis at older ages, indicated a positive correlation was found between the presence of gingivitis and the number of S. mutans.

Dental Aerosol Hazard Prevention with Pre-procedural Antiseptic Mouthwashes (Comparative Study)

“…The present study results are in contrast with Iraqi studies that found no significant relationship between the mean number of decayed, missing, and filled primary teeth (dmft) and the number of (S. mutans), attempting to demonstrate and encourage the principle that tooth decay is a multifactorial disease influenced by a number of factors (25,26) .…”