title: Assessment of dental caries risk in children based on color Doppler US and the changes in blood perfusion in the salivary glands during salivary stimulation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate in otherwise healthy children the association between the caries index, the stimulated salivary flow rate (SFR), and the spectral Doppler findings of the changes in blood perfusion in the salivary glands during the secretion of saliva.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study group consisted of 38 children with a mean age of 9.47 ± 1.89 years. The caries index was calculated by determining the number of decayed, missing, and filled teeth. Groups A, B, and C represented subjects with low, moderate, and normal SFRs, respectively, calculated by obtaining chewing-stimulated whole saliva. All subjects were examined by color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) before and during secretory stimulation with lemon, by which maximum systolic velocity (MSV), pulsatility index (PI), resistive index (RI), and flow volume (FV) were calculated at the external carotid and facial arteries.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The differences for spectral indices obtained before and after stimulation were significantly different among Groups A, B, and C at the external carotid artery (P = 0.006 for delta MSV, P = 0.014 for delta PI, P < 0.001 for delta RI, and P = 0.022 for delta FV) and at the facial artery (P = 0.001 for delta MSV, P = 0.004 for delta PI, P < 0.001 for delta RI, and P < 0.001 for delta FV). In addition, significant correlations were calculated between the SFR and the aforementioned delta values.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  CDUS enabled the evaluation of changes in blood perfusion in the salivary glands during salivary stimulation and may be a promising tool for the assessment of caries risk in children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Ankara Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey. ahmettuncayturgut@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Ahmet Tuncay
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Turgut
authors.forename: Melek Dilek
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Turgut
authors.forename: Meryem
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tekçiçek
authors.forename: Pınar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Koşar
authors.forename: Pınar
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ozdemir
authors.forename: Uğur
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Koşar
authors.forename: Vikram
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Dogra
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012039:Regional Blood Flow; D018570:Risk Assessment / Q000379:methods; D012469:Salivary Glands / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000502:physiology; D018615:Ultrasonography, Doppler, Color