Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Dec 13;7(12):692.
doi: 10.3390/microorganisms7120692.

Salivary Biomarkers and Oral Microbial Load in Relation to the Dental Status of Adults with Cystic Fibrosis

Tamara Pawlaczyk-Kamieńska  1 , Maria Borysewicz-Lewicka  1 , Halina Batura-Gabryel  2
Affiliations

Salivary Biomarkers and Oral Microbial Load in Relation to the Dental Status of Adults with Cystic Fibrosis

Tamara Pawlaczyk-Kamieńska et al. Microorganisms. .

Abstract

The mutation of cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) can modify the physical and chemical properties of saliva, which in turn can affect the oral microflora and oral health in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). The aim of the study was to examine oral health status, salivary properties, and total oral bacteria count in CF adults. Dental status was assessed using the decayed missing filled surfaces (DMF-S) index, and oral clearness using the approximal plaque index (API). The Saliva-Check BUFFER test was used to assess saliva, and real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test to determine the total oral bacteria count. CF patients in comparison to healthy controls showed a higher level of examined clinical indices, higher total oral bacteria count, lower salivary flow rate, lower salivary pH, and increased viscosity. Conclusions: In CF patients, saliva properties, accompanied by insufficient dental care, might be an essential dental caries risk factor. In CF patients, among the etiological factors for dental caries, the bacterial agent seems to be less significant. The frequent and long-term infectious pharmacotherapy can probably explain that. A great deal of the information collected on the oral environment in CF patients, which has helped us understand the etiological conditions for inflammation and infection in this area of the body, indicates that proper dental care can mostly counteract these pathologies.

Keywords: cystic fibrosis; oral health status; oral microbiota; salivary biomarkers.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Age distribution in the studied subjects.
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A–F) Data comparison graphs of the results of Mann-Whitney tests between cystic fibrosis patients and healthy controls. Abbreviations: CF, cystic fibrosis; DMF-S, decayed missing filled surfaces; API, approximal plaque index
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A–F) Data comparison graphs of the results of Mann-Whitney tests between cystic fibrosis patients and healthy controls. Abbreviations: CF, cystic fibrosis; DMF-S, decayed missing filled surfaces; API, approximal plaque index
Figure 2
Figure 2
(A–F) Data comparison graphs of the results of Mann-Whitney tests between cystic fibrosis patients and healthy controls. Abbreviations: CF, cystic fibrosis; DMF-S, decayed missing filled surfaces; API, approximal plaque index
Figure 3
Figure 3
(A,B) Spearman correlation analysis between the approximal plaque index (API) and salivary flow rate, and between the buffer capacity of stimulated whole saliva and salivary flow rate in cystic fibrosis (CF) patients.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Pedersen A.M.L., Sørensen C.E., Proctor G.B., Carpenter G.H., Ekström J. Salivary secretion in health and disease. J. Oral Rehabil. 2018;45:730–774. doi: 10.1111/joor.12664. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Catalán M.A., Nakamoto T., Melvin J.E. The salivary gland fluid secretion mechanism. J. Med. Investig. 2009;56:192–196. doi: 10.2152/jmi.56.192. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Frizzell R.A., Hanrahan J.W. Physiology of epithelial chloride and fluid secretion. Cold Spring Harb. Perspect. Med. 2012;2:a009563. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a009563. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Zinn V.Z., Khatri A., Mednieks M.J., Hand A.R. Localization of CFTR signaling complexes in human salivary gland striated duct cells. Eur. J. Oral Sci. 2015;123:140–148. doi: 10.1111/eos.12184. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Saint-Criq V., Gray M.A. Role of CFTR in epithelial physiology. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 2017;74:93–115. doi: 10.1007/s00018-016-2391-y. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources