title: Familial Oral Microbial Imbalance and Dental Caries Occurrence in Their Children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Develop a familial liability index for oral microbial status that reflects an imbalance of oral domains based on the presence of risk indicators in saliva, inter-proximal plaque, tongue, and throat.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-six mother-child pairs from Webster and Nicholas counties, West Virginia, USA, participated in this study. Saliva samples were assayed formutans streptococci(MS), interproximal plaque samples for the BANA Test (BT) species, tongue swabs for BT, and throat swabs for any of the sentinel organisms (Staphylococcus aureus,Streptococcus pyogenes, and yeasts). The corresponding thresholds for a (+) risk indicator were, respectively, ≥105CFU of MS salivary levels, one or more BT-(+) plaques (>105CFU/mg of plaque of at least one of BT-(+) species), weak-(+) BT for a tongue swab (>104-<105), and >104CFU/swab for any of the sentinel markers.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of mothers and children was 41.6 and 14.6 years. Ninety-one % of both mothers and children had at least one (+) risk indicator. Overall, 76% of mother child-pairs had at least one (+) concordant oral microbial risk indicator. Accordingly, the relative risk (RR) of children having concordant results with their mothers was increased 1.36 (BT-plaque), 1.37 (BT-tongue), 0.94 (sentinel organisms) and 1.13 (MS) times. Principal component analysis revealed distinct sets of oral microbial risk indicators in mothers and children that correlated with dental caries prevalence rates in children.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Mother-child pairs shared similarities of oral microbial risk indicators that allow for the development of a liability index that can elucidate caries in the children.
authors.affiliation: Dental Science, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Doctor in Public Health, University of Michigan, United States. Associate Professor, New York University College of Dentistry, New York, United States.
authors.forename: Walter A
authors.initials: WA
authors.lastname: Bretz
authors.affiliation: Bachelor of Science in Biology, Norwich University, Northfield, Vermont. Master of Science in Microbiology, PhD in Molecular Virology, Syracuse University, New York, United States. Professor, West Virginia University, School of Medicine, Morgantown, West Virginia, United States.
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.affiliation: Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Doctor in Public Health University of Michigan, United States. Professor, University of Pittsburgh, School of Dental Medicine.
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Weyant
keywords: Liability Index; child; dental caries; mother; oral microbiology