Mothers’ Oral Health Impacts Children

 First-time mothers who had a high salivary number of Strep. mutans [≥ 10⁶ colony-forming-units (c.f.u.) per ml]were selected. Every second mother was given a special preventive programme to reduce her salivary level below 3 × 10⁵ c.f.u. per ml. Where a reduction of Strep. Mutans was achieved in the mother, the establishment of Strep. mutans in her infant was prevented or delayed. Thus, 28 mothers were successfully treated until their infants were 23 months old and only 3 of their infants (11 per cent) were infected with Strep. mutans, compared with 17 out of 38 infants in the control group (45 per cent). In both groups, the percentage of infected infants increased with increasing age, although at all ages fewer infants were infected with Strep. mutans in the test group than in the control group. Sixteen infants of successfully treated mothers had reached the age of 36 months. Three were infected (19 per cent) compared with 17 out of 27 in the control group (63 per cent). These findings show that the spread of Strep. mutans can be delayed or prevented by measures directed against the main source of infection, an approach which is successful in the prevention of other infectious diseases.Pregnant women were given fluoride varnish and restoration of active caries once during their pregnancy. No application of fluoride or restoration was given to the control group. Microbiological samples were taken after delivery of the babies in the control and study groups and after the babies had completed their 8th week, to obtain S. mutans isolation plaque samples. Colonies of S. mutans were calculated as colony-forming units (cfu). Samples were determined to be positive when both tests showed the presence of S. mutans. After the colonies were counted, the number of colonies was graded as 0, not-visible; 1, <103cfu; 2, 103–105cfu; and 3, >105cfu. Statistical analyses were performed with the Shapiro–Wilk test, Student’s t test, χ2 analysis, Wilcoxon test, Spearman’s correlation analysis, and Fisher’s exact test using SPSS software.

Results

After applying the preventive treatment program in the test group, statistically significant differences in both the plaque index and the number of S. mutans colonies were observed (P=0.001). There was a significant relationship of the number of S. mutans colonies of the control and test groups with those of the babies (r=0.336, P=0.009).

Conclusions

Streptococcus mutans is commonly transferred from mothers to their babies, and the preventive program applied to the pregnant women reduced both the amount of plaque and S. mutans colonization and thus had a positive effect.