Polymerase Chain Reaction for detection of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus in dental plaque of children from Cartagena, Colombia
Main Article Content
Methods: Descriptive study using a non-probabilistic sample of 50 children between 3 and 5 years of age, preschoolers from a Caribbean population in Colombia. Criteria for selection were that children should exhibit plaque accumulations on the surface of the cervical margins of the rearmost molars, and placed in one of two study groups: carious lesions and sound surfaces. Dental plaque samples from both groups were subjected to molecular analysis and statistical analysis was applied to determine the difference between the two groups using the frequencies of presence of S. mutans, S. sobrinus or both in the
two groups applying Fisher’s exact test for association between the presence of microorganisms and the state of the tooth surface from where the dental plaque was taken.
Results: The frequency of S. mutans in carious lesions was 76% and 24% in healthy surfaces. The frequency of S. sobrinus in carious lesions was 81.9% and 18.1% in caries-free surfaces. There was statistical significance between the presence of S. mutans and the presence of caries (p=0.001) and between the presence of S. sobrinus (p=0.02) and the presence of caries.
There was no statistical significance between the presence of caries and the simultaneous presence of both microorganisms (p=0.08).
Conclusions: The presence of S. mutans and S. sobrinus in dental plaque samples is highly prevalent and associated to non cavitated carious lesions, being the molecular identification of these microorganisms by PCR a sensitive, fast, and easy to use detection method for the mutans group of oral bacteria.
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- Dental plaque
- Streptococcus mutans
- Streptococcus sobrinus
- Preschool
Ministerio de Salud, Centro Nacional de Consultoría. EstudioNacional de Salud Bucal (ENSAB-III), II Estudio Nacional deFactores de Riesgo de Enfermedades Crónicas (ENFREC II).Bogotá: Ministerio de Salud; 1999.2.González-Martínez F, Sánchez-Pedraza R, Carmona-ArangoL. Indicadores de riesgo para la caries dental en niños prees-colares de la Boquilla, Cartagena. Rev Salud Publica. 2009;11: 620-30.3.Ekstrand KR. Improving clinical visual detection-potentialfor caries clinical trials. J Dent Res. 2004; 83: 67-71. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1590/S0124-00642009000400013
Colombia MédicaVol. 42 Nº 4, 2011 (Octubre-Diciembre)4.Ge Y, Caufield PW, Fisch GS, Li Y. Streptococcus mutansand Streptococcus sanguinis colonization correlated withcaries experience in children. Caries Res. 2008; 42: 444-8.5.Tenuta LM, Ricomini Filho AP, Del Bel Cury AA, Cury JA.Effect of sucrose on the selection of mutans streptococci andlactobacilli in dental biofilm formed in situ. Caries Res. 2006;40: 546-9.6.Matsuyama J, Sato T, Washio J, Mayanagi G, Ito Y, Abiko Y,et al. PCR for detection of mutans streptococci in humandental plaque.Int Congress. 2005; 1284:158-62.7.Hirose H, Isogai HK, Miura E, Ueda H. Close associationbetween Streptococcus sobrinus in the saliva of young childrenand smooth-surface caries increment. Caries Res. 1993; 27:292-7.8.Okada M, Soda Y, Hayashi F, Doi T, Suzuki J, Miura K, et al.Longitudinal study of dental caries incidence associated withStreptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus in pre-school children. J Med Microbiol. 2005; 54: 661-5.9.Corby PM. Microbial risk indicators of early childhood caries.J Clin Microbiol. 2005; 43: 5753-9.10. Thenisch N, Bachmann L, Imfeld T, Leisebach T, Seteurer J.Are mutans streptococci detected in preschool children areliable predictive factor for dental caries risk?A systematicreview. Caries Res. 2006; 40: 366-74.11. Franco E, Franco TC, Amoroso P, Marín JM, Ávila FA.Detection of Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinusin dental plaque samples from Brazilian preschool children byPolymerase Chain Reaction.Braz Dent J. 2007; 18: 329-33.12. Okada M, Soda Y, Hayashi F, Doi T, Suzuki J, Miura K, et al.PCR detection of Streptococcus mutans and S. sobrinus indental plaque samples from Japanese pre-school children. JMed Microbiol.2002; 51: 443-7.13. Salazar LA, Vásquez C, Almuna A, Oporto G, Santana R,Herrera CL, et al. Molecular detection de estreptococoscariogénicos en saliva. Int J Morphol. 2008; 26: 951-8.14. Nordlund A, Johansson I, Källestål1 C, Ericson T, SjöströmM, Strömberg N. Improved ability of biological and previouscaries multimarkers to predict caries disease as revealed bymultivariate PLS modelling. BMC Oral Health. 2009; 9: 28.15. Ekstrand KR, Ricketts DN, Kidd EA. Occlusal caries:pathology, diagnosis and logical management. Dent Update.2001; 28:380-7.16. Ismail AI, Sohn W, Tellez M, Amaya A, Sen A, Hasson H, etal. The International Caries Detection and Assessment System(ICDAS): an integrated system for measuring dental caries.Comm Dent Oral Epidemiol. 2007; 35: 170-8.17. Takahashi N, Nyvad B. Caries ecology revisited: microbialdynamics and the caries process. Caries Res. 2008; 42: 409-18.18. Kanasi E. Microbial risk markers for childhood caries inpediatricians’ offices. J Dent Res. 2010; 89: 378-83.19. Okada M, Hayashi TY, Doi T, Suzuki J, Sugai M. Lateestablishedmutans streptococci in children over 3 years old.Int J Dentistr. 2010; Article ID 732468, 5 pages.20. Berkowitz MRJ. Mutans streptococci: acquisition andtransmission. Pediatr Dent. 2006; 28: 106-9.21. Law V, Seow WK, Townsend G. Factors influencing oralcolonization of mutans streptococci in young children. AustDent J. 2007; 52: 93-100.22. Igarashi TYA, Goto N. PCR for detection and identification ofStreptococcus sobrinus. J Med Microbiol. 2000; 49: 1069-74.23. Sánchez-Pérez L, Acosta-Gio AE. Caries risk assessmentfrom dental plaque and salivary Streptococcus mutans countson two culture media. Arch Oral Biol. 2001; 46: 49-55.24. Emanuelsson IM. Mutans streptococci in families and ontooth sites. Studies on the distribution, acquisition andpersistence using DNA fingerprinting. Swed Dent J. 2001;148 (Suppl): 1-66.25. Choi EJ, SH Lee, Kim YJ, Quantitative real-time polymerasechain reaction for Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcussobrinus in dental plaque samples and its association withearly childhood caries. Int J Paediatr Dent. 2009; 19: 141-7.26. Rodis OM, Matsumura S, Kariya N, Okazaki Y, Ogata S,Reissmann DR. Culture-based PCR analysis of plaque samplesof Japanese school children to assess the presence of sixcommon cariogenic bacteria and its association with cariesrisk.Mol Cell Probes. 2009; 23: 259-63
Downloads
- Niradiz Reyes, Alfonso Bettin, Ismael Reyes, Jan Geliebter, Microarray analysis of the in vitro granulomatous response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Ra , Colombia Medica: Vol. 46 No. 1 (2015)
- Oscar Correa, Kelly Delgado, Carla Rangel, Ana Bello, Niradiz Reyes, Nasal and vaginal colonization of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus in pregnant women in Cartagena, Colombia , Colombia Medica: Vol. 43 No. 1 (2012)

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The copy rights of the articles published in Colombia Médica belong to the Universidad del Valle. The contents of the articles that appear in the Journal are exclusively the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Editorial Committee of the Journal. It is allowed to reproduce the material published in Colombia Médica without prior authorization for non-commercial use