Chair-side quantitative oral-microflora screening for assessing familial correlation of periodontal status and caries prevalence.
OBJECTIVE
Our goal was to investigate the relationship between clinical status and the presence of carious or periodontal pathogens among parent-child familial pairs. Clinical practices of risk assessment with consideration of familial pathogen interaction might reduce the need for therapy, improve patient outcomes, and ultimately reduce oral disease burden.


METHODS
In this study, we enrolled 30 parent-child pairs, with the children exhibiting complete deciduous dentition or mixed dentition with only permanent first molars. Clinical statuses were evaluated using caries and periodontal disease indicators, including the sum of decay and the number of missing or filled teeth (DMFT) for adults, decay, extraction caused by dental disease, and filled teeth (deft), for children, probing depth, and plaque control record (PCR). Supra- and sub-gingival bacteria were determined based on semi-quantitative measurements of microbial infection by using data from the Dentocult(®) SM test (caries-related organisms) and the PerioCheck(®) test (periodontal disease-related organisms).


RESULTS
No statistically significant relationship was detected between the prevalence of periodontal pathogens and that of cariogenic pathogens in the oral cavity. However, the clinical status of caries (DMFT) was negatively correlated with the clinical status of periodontal disease (pocket depth) in parents who were infected with dominant periodontal pathogens (r = -0.59, p<0.01). Parents' DMFT scores were positively correlated with children's deft and PCR scores. PCR and deft scores of children appeared to decrease significantly with the parent's pocket depth.


CONCLUSIONS
The study showed that the quantity of caries pathogens were not significant related to periodontal pathogens, but the caries clinical outcome is negative related with periodontal clinical outcome between familial pairs.
School of Oral Hygiene, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yung-Kai
YK
Huang
School of Dental Technology, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Wei-Fang
WF
Lee
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taipei, Taiwan.
Meng-Jiy
MJ
Wang
Division of Oral Rehabilitation and Center of Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Dentistry, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Yus-Han Sophie
YH
Chang
Division of Oral Rehabilitation and Center of Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Dentistry, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Wen-Shiun
WS
Tchaou
School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Wei-Jen
WJ
Chang
School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan ; Dental Department of Wan-Fang Hospital, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Sheng-Yang
SY
Lee
Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan ; Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Joen-Rong
JR
Sheu
Division of Oral Rehabilitation and Center of Pediatric Dentistry, Department of Dentistry, Taipei Medical University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan ; School of Dentistry, College of Oral Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Nai-Chia
NC
Teng
D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology*; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D015995:Prevalence; D014094:Tooth, Deciduous / Q000382:microbiology