Reflection of the early establishment of oral hygiene in edentulous infants to the cariogenic microbiota

• Grant number: 15/25660-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Effective date (Start): December 01, 2017
• Effective date (End): November 30, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Dentistry - Pediatric Dentistry
• Principal Investigator: Thaís Parisotto Ulmer
• Grantee: Tainá Aparecida de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Universidade São Francisco (USF). Campus Bragança Paulista. Bragança Paulista , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The Pediatric Dentistry has been focusing on the prevention, considering the clinical challenges during the operative procedures in the very early childhood, the costs that they represent to the Public Health System and the direct impact of dental caries in the quality of children's lives. The aim of this project is to evaluate if the oral hygiene of the dental cavity of edentulous infants influences the colonization of pathogenic microorganisms (Mutans streptococci, Lactobacilli and Candida spp) and the adaptation of infants with the oral manipulation. Dentists and Pediatric from Bragança Paulista-SP will be asked to answer a questionnaire about oral health in the childhood. Furthermore, 24 edentulous infants, attending public daycare centers, aging 4-10 months will be submitted to clinical examinations and will be divided into two groups: experimental group (n = 12) - infants who will have their oral cavity cleaned (gauze + filtered water) once a day at home by their parents, as well as in the nursery; and control group (n = 12) - infants will not have their oral cavity cleaned, neither at the home care centers, nor at home. Oral samples will be collected for pathogenic microorganisms enumeration in specific media in two moments: T0 - initial assessment of the oral cavity and T1 - 30 days after cleaning, or not, the infants oral cavity. The facial expression of the infants during the oral examination at T0 and T1 will be assessed by validated scale. The babies will be monitored monthly until the first tooth eruption. Then, the methodology above will be performed again. The data will be evaluated by descriptive statistics, t-test and logistic regression (± = 5%). The results will guide the implementation of preventive strategies targeting good oral health conditions in the early childhood. (AU)