Prevalence and determinants of oral microflora among Portuguese adolescents

Introduction: The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence and determinants of salivary Streptococcus mutans, Lactobacillus and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans and the associated risk of development of dental pathologies on a sample of Portuguese adolescents. Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was designed including a inal sample of 447 adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years old, attending a public school in Sátão, Portugal. A self-administered questionnaire was illed out by the adolescents. Clinical examination of oral health status was carried out and saliva collection was accomplished by the passive drool method. The identiication of the different types of bacterial strains was accomplished using the Polymerase Chain Reaction technique. Results: The prevalence of S. mutans in the studied sample was 99.5% Lactobacillus, 80.8% S. mutans and 15.2% A. actinomycetemcomitans. The presence of S. mutans was associated with gender (male = 76.1% vs female = 83.6%; P = .04) and dental pain in the presence of severe dental caries (77.3% vs 87.8%; P = .006). The infection with A. actinomycetemcomitans was associated with age (< 15 years = 12.3% vs ≥ 15 years = 20.3%; P = .03) and residence area (rural = 18.2% vs urban = 11.0%; P = .04), and may be related with a higher risk of periodontal disease development in adulthood. Conclusions: A. actinomycetemcomitans infection was found to be associated with socio-demographic variables, suggesting that, if not clinically well identiied and treated, may cause serious oral diseases during adulthood. It has been described that the oral microlora is one of the main etiological factors for dental caries and periodontal diseases development, but cannot be considered in an isolated manner.