Caries prevalence, level of mutans streptococci, salivary flow rate, and buffering capacity in subjects with Down syndrome

The aim of this study was to correlate caries experience and physiological and microbiological profiles. The study group comprised 60 individuals with Down syndrome, both genders, aged from one to 48 years. The prevalence of caries was analyzed by DMFT/DMFS and dmft/dmfs indexes. Physiological factors such as flow rate, and buffer capacity and microbiological factor such as mutans streptococci counts were observed. The average DMFT and DMFS were, respectively, 4.53 and 6.85, whereas the mean dmft and dmfs values were 1.55 and 2.55, respectively. Ninety-four percent of 18 individuals that saliva was possible to collected presented low flow rate and only 6% of them had normal flow rate; 44% percent had low buffer capacity, 39% had limited buffer capacity and 16% had normal buffer capacity. Sixty percent of individuals had high values of CFU/mL (>1.000.000 S. mutans); while 40% presented low values of microorganisms (<100.000 S. mutans). Data of clinical, physiological and microbiological characterization were statistically analyzed through Pearson’s correlation and Chi-square test. A p-value d” 0.05 was considered significant. DMFT/DMTS and dmft/dmfs indexes increased with age. Pearson’s correlation showed significant values to DMFT/DMFS x age (r= 0.80 and r= 0.82; p < 0.01). Flow rate and buffering capacity were low. Individuals had high mutans streptococci counts (CFU/mL). DMFT/DMFS did not present significant correlation with flow rate, buffering capacity and mutans streptococci counts and no association with gender. The prevalence of dental caries increased with age at individuals with Down syndrome. As caries is a multifactor disease, other factors, which were not evaluated in the present study, such as diet, host and oral hygiene might be influencing the development of dental caries in these individuals.