IADR Abstract Archives
Association between Dental Caries and Sleep in Children
Objectives: Inadequate sleep suppresses immunity and promotes inflammation. Short sleep duration is associated with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and obesity. The aims of this study were to 1) assess the relation between sleep duration and dental caries in Kuwaiti children, and 2) determine which salivary biomarkers are associated with dental caries.
Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 8,146 children (mean age = 10). Children were selected from 138 elementary schools, representing the 6 governorates of Kuwait. Oral examinations, sleep evaluation interviews, body weight measurements, and unstimulated whole saliva samples were collected. Salivary glucose was measured by fluorescence glucose oxidase assay, and numbers of salivary bacteria/ml were determined by DNA hybridization. The relation between sleep duration and the number of carious teeth in each child was tested by linear regression analysis. The outcome variable was the number of carious teeth (primary and permanent). The main independent variables were daily sleep hours, concentration of salivary glucose, the number of spirochetes/ml in saliva, and the number of S. intermedius/ml in saliva. Other oral bacteria phyla tested were not related to dental decay. Covariates included obesity, governorate, age, and gender.
Results: Both dental caries and salivary glucose increased with shorter sleep duration (p<0.05). The numbers of spirochetes/ml and S. intermedius/ml in saliva increased with more carious teeth (p<0.05). Dental caries was significantly different between the six governorates of Kuwait and boys had more dental caries than girls (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Children who slept fewer night hours developed more carious teeth. Children with more carious teeth had higher levels of salivary glucose, and elevated numbers of spirochetes/ml and S. intermedius/ml in saliva.
Methods: Cross-sectional data were collected from 8,146 children (mean age = 10). Children were selected from 138 elementary schools, representing the 6 governorates of Kuwait. Oral examinations, sleep evaluation interviews, body weight measurements, and unstimulated whole saliva samples were collected. Salivary glucose was measured by fluorescence glucose oxidase assay, and numbers of salivary bacteria/ml were determined by DNA hybridization. The relation between sleep duration and the number of carious teeth in each child was tested by linear regression analysis. The outcome variable was the number of carious teeth (primary and permanent). The main independent variables were daily sleep hours, concentration of salivary glucose, the number of spirochetes/ml in saliva, and the number of S. intermedius/ml in saliva. Other oral bacteria phyla tested were not related to dental decay. Covariates included obesity, governorate, age, and gender.
Results: Both dental caries and salivary glucose increased with shorter sleep duration (p<0.05). The numbers of spirochetes/ml and S. intermedius/ml in saliva increased with more carious teeth (p<0.05). Dental caries was significantly different between the six governorates of Kuwait and boys had more dental caries than girls (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Children who slept fewer night hours developed more carious teeth. Children with more carious teeth had higher levels of salivary glucose, and elevated numbers of spirochetes/ml and S. intermedius/ml in saliva.