Salivary Absolute Quantification of Periodontopathogens in Individuals With Down Syndrome

Objectives: Quantify salivary levels of periodontopathogenic bacteria that could be associated with prevalence of periodontal disease in children with DS compared with non-syndromic children.
Methods: Gingival index (GI) was evaluated and stimulated whole saliva was collected from 18 children with DS and 23 without DS. Salivary flow rate was also determined. Quantitative real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) was used for absolute quantification of Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella forsythia and Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. Data were analyzed by Mann-Whitney test and Spearman correlation (α=0.05).
Results: There were no differences in GI and in quantification of periodontopathogenic bacteria between groups, however, salivary flow rate was significantly lower in DS than in controls (p<0.0001). In addition, no correlation was observed between the studied variables for both groups, DS and control.
Conclusions: Reduced salivary flow rate might be an important factor to periodontal disease development in individuals with DS. Furthermore, salivary microbial levels assessment might be useful to predict the early-onset PD in DS patients.