Dental Caries and Salivary Streptococcus Mutans in Relation to Primary and Permanent Dentition

Abstract

Background : Streptococcus mutans has been implicated as a principle microbial agent in the pathogenesis of dental caries. The aim of this study was to compare caries experience and salivary Streptococcus mutans count among groups of children having primary dentition and adults having permanent dentition.Materials and Methods: The sample consisted of 100 children with an age of 4 – 5 years old and 100 adults with an age of 21 – 22 years old in Baghdad city. Dental caries was examined for the whole dentition and bacteriological analysis was done for the salivary sample to estimate the count of Streptococcus mutans in saliva.Results: Caries experience of adults was significantly higher than that of children while salivary S.mutans count was significantly higher among children than the adults. Positive correlation of S. mutans with decayed surface was stronger than that with (dmfs/DMFS) for both children and adults.Conclusion : S. mutans count was significantly higher among children than adults and caries experienc of permanent teeth was significantly higher than that of primary teeth.