Impact of Secretory Immunoglobulin A Level on Dental Caries Experience in Asthmatic Children

To assess the association between different factors in saliva and dental caries experience in children with bronchial asthma.

A total of 60 asthmatic children and 60 healthy controls of both genders with age ranging from 4- to 12-year-old. The asthmatics were grouped according to disease severity into mild, moderate, or severe asthma. All the children were clinically examined to assess their dental caries experience (deft/DMFT), and stimulated saliva samples were collected to measure the saliva pH, flow rate, ά-amylase, and secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA)-level changes. The data were statistically analyzed using the SPSS program (v. 23) to test for significance at p ≤ 0.05.

Asthmatic children presented significantly higher deft mean value (6.77 ± 1.69), as well as significantly reduced stimulated saliva flow (0.82 ± 0.2) and sIgA (29.42 ± 6.31) when compared to healthy control. The sIgA of asthmatics showed statistically significant negative correlation with deft and DMFT. Severe asthmatics presented significantly the lowest sIgA mean level (23.61 ± 5.33) and the most reduced saliva flow rate (0.64 ± 0.20).

The reduction in saliva flow rate and secretory immunoglobulin A render asthmatic children more prone to increased dental caries progression mainly of primary dentition.

Arafa A, AlDahlawi S, Hussien A, et al. Impact of Secretory Immunoglobulin A Level on Dental Caries Experience in Asthmatic Children. Int J Clin Pediatr Dent 2019;12(5):414-418.