title: Prevention of early mutans streptococci transmission in infants by professional tooth cleaning and chlorhexidine varnish treatment of the mother.
abstract: Mutans streptococci (MS) are transmitted in early childhood from the mother to the infant, mostly by saliva. This study evaluated the influence of chlorhexidine (CHX) varnish-mediated suppression of MS in mothers with high salivary MS counts on the frequency of MS colonization in their children at 2 years of age. Professional tooth cleaning followed by CHX varnish application in 16 mothers with high salivary MS counts resulted in a significantly lower number of MS-colonized infants at 2 years of age when compared to a control group of 13 untreated mother-child pairs with high maternal salivary MS levels. The frequency of MS colonization in the CHX-treated group was not significantly different from the one found in a negative control group of 15 mother-child pairs with low maternal salivary MS levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry and Periodontology, School of Dental Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Vivian C
authors.initials: VC
authors.lastname: Gripp
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schlagenhauf
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002710:Chlorhexidine / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003777:Dental Prophylaxis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical / Q000517:prevention & control*; D009035:Mothers; D010150:Paint; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000635:transmission*; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000891:Anti-Infective Agents, Local; D002710:Chlorhexidine