Salivary distribution of Streptococcus mutans in schoolchildren from Rome (Italy)

Five-hundred-seventy-seven, 6 year old schoolchildren from Rome were examined. 67.8% of them harboured 1 x 10(5) or more Streptococcus mutans CFU per milliliter of saliva. This value was higher than values reported by other Authors. However, the caries prevalence of the subjects in this study was lower than values shown by some of the other study-populations, suggesting that different S. mutans distributions of different populations are not entirely explained by the differences in caries prevalence and, in order for the comparison to be possible, the other factors affecting mutans distributions should be considered.