title: Association Between Early Childhood Caries and Colonization withStreptococcus mutansGenotypes From Mothers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate Streptococcus mutans genotypes (GT) between mother and child (M-C) in a high caries risk cohort to explore the association with early childhood caries (ECC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixty-nine infants (each approximately one year old) had periodic oral examinations (dmfs) and microbial samples collected from dental plaque, saliva, and other oral surfaces. Their mothers had an examination and plaque collected. S mutans isolates were genotyped using repetitive extragenic palindromic-PCR (rep-PCR). Statistical analyses were conducted for associations of S mutans in M-C dyads with caries outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-seven S mutans genotypes (GT) from 3,414 isolates were identified. M-C were categorized as GT match (<small>n</small> equals 40) or no-match (n equals 29). When modeling the severity of ECC at 36 months (approximately four years old), the estimated dmfs in the match group was 2.61 times that of the no-match group (P=.014).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Colonization of children with Streptococcus mutans genotypes that matched with mothers was shown to be highly associated with early childhood caries. Although the data suggest vertical transmission of S mutans in 40 of 69 children that shared GT with their mother, it is possible that other individuals transmitted the S mutans. Nonetheless, these findings support the importance of the mother's oral microbial status as a contributing influence to their children's oral health.
authors.affiliation: Joseph F. Volker professor and Chair, in Department of Pediatric Dentistry, in the School of Dentistry, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA;, Email: nkc@uab.edu.
authors.forename: Noel K
authors.initials: NK
authors.lastname: Childers
authors.affiliation: DART Postdoctoral Scholar, in the School of Dentistry, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: Stephanie S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Momeni
authors.affiliation: Researcher for Laboratory Medicine, in the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Whiddon
authors.affiliation: Instructor, in Department of Pediatric Dentistry, in the School of Dentistry, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: Kyounga
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Cheon
authors.affiliation: Professor in the Department of Biostatistics, in the School of Public Health, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: Gary R
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Cutter
authors.affiliation: Statistician in the Department of Epidemiology, in the School of Public Health, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: Howard W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Wiener
authors.affiliation: President, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, School of Dentistry, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., and Graduate Student at the College of Dentistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, USA.
authors.forename: Tariq S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Ghazal
authors.affiliation: Adjunct professor, in Department of Pediatric Dentistry, in the School of Dentistry, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Ruby
authors.affiliation: Professor and section head of Clinical Microbiology, in the Department of Pathology, School of Medicine, at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Ala., USA.
authors.forename: Stephen A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Moser
mesh_terms: D015373:Bacterial Typing Techniques; D002675:Child, Preschool; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D004245:DMF Index; D003731:Dental Caries / Q000382:microbiology*; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000382:microbiology; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D018445:Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; D008297:Male; D009035:Mothers; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology; D013290:Streptococcal Infections / Q000635:transmission; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*