Cariogenic microbiota of children under chemotherapy: A pilot study

To analyze the cariogenic microbiota of children who are under antineoplastic therapy.

Twenty-seven patients undergoing cancer treatment in the Pediatric Unit of Mato Grosso Cancer Hospital were selected. The inclusion criteria of volunteers were being under chemotherapy in the saliva collection period, age between 2 and 18 years, collaborate with the protocol for clinical examination and saliva collection, and responsible have given their written consent. For the realization of lactobacilli and Streptococcus mutans count in the patients' saliva, respectively, Dentalcult I and II (LaborClin; ) kits were used.

Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher's exact tests were used to assess the association of the variables age group, prevalence of lactobacilli and S. mutans, diagnosis of patients, presence and level of decay of patients defined by decayed, filled, and missing teeth (DMFT)/dmft indexes with a significance level of 5%.

The group of patients consisted of 27 children, 15 males, and 12 females; 44% were aged between 6 and 10 years; 61% had present or past history of caries (dmft/DMFT >0); 48% had low value for Dentalcult I; 59% presented value grade 0 to Dentalcult II; and 63% were diagnosed with acute lymphoid leukemia.

There was a high prevalence of dental caries in the study population but low rates of S. mutans and lactobacilli in the saliva of the children. Lactobacilli rate was significantly associated with caries index scores, and the prevalence of caries was directly associated with the age group of the children.