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Oral malodor in children and volatile sulfur compound-producing bacteria in saliva: preliminary microbiological
F Paryavi-Gholami1, G E Minah, B F Turng
1Department of Oral and Crainofacial Biological Sciences, University of Maryland Dental School, Baltimore, USA.
Purpose:
This study examined and compared levels of salivary bacteria which produced volatile sulfur compounds (VSC) in young children with and without oral malodor.
Methods:
Clinic populations of children aged two to seven years, whose parents presented with an unsolicited major complaint of oral malodor in their child (OM+), or aged-matched controls in whom oral malodor was not detected by parents (OM-), were investigated. Saliva specimens were cultured anaerobically on media that differentiated VSC+ bacteria. These were quantified and identified. Levels in OM+ and OM- children were compared and statistically analyzed.
Results:
OM+ children harbored significantly higher levels of VSC+ isolates in saliva than OM- children (OM+ = 44% of total viable counts, TVC; OM- = 24% of TVC; P = 0.0083). Types of recovered bacterial species did not differ in the two groups, but levels of Prevotella oralis were significantly higher in OM+ children (P = 0.0001). Veillonella species followed by P. oralis were the predominant VSC+ isolates recovered in both populations.
Conclusions:
VSC+ salivary bacteria may differ both in type and quantity in young children with and without parent-perceived oral malodor.