title: Salivary microflora and caries experience in 5-year-old children from two ethnic groups.
abstract: The purposes of the study were threefold: to compare salivary levels of mutans streptococci and Lactobacillus in 140 5-year-old children from two ethnic groups, to correlate caries experience of each group with bacterial counts, and to determine levels of infectivity which could indicate high caries activity in young children. Pakistani-Muslim and white Caucasian children were paired, matched for age, gender and caries experience. There were no significant differences in mutans streptococci or Lactobacillus levels between the two ethnic groups. However, strong correlations were found between caries experience and levels of both mutans streptococci and Lactobacillus in each ethnic group. Furthermore, mutans streptococci and Lactobacillus levels correlated strongly with one another. For detection of high caries activity, the optimum screening levels of bacteria were > 10(5) cfu/ml for mutans streptococci (sensitivity 78% and specificity 86%) and > 10(4) cfu/ml for Lactobacillus (sensitivity 82% and specificity 89%).
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, University of Manchester, Turner Dental School, England.
authors.forename: D B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Drucker
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Primrose
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hobson
authors.forename: H V
authors.initials: HV
authors.lastname: Worthington
mesh_terms: D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000382:microbiology; D004739:England; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007514:Islam; D007778:Lactobacillus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008297:Male; D010154:Pakistan / Q000208:ethnology; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000302:isolation & purification; D016986:Streptococcus sobrinus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D044465:White People