Background: Recently, the dental literature has focused mainly on the microbial colonization of healthy full-term\ninfants and their mothers or caretakers. However, oral microbial acquisition by premature infants has not been\nadequately investigated, and the correlation between pre-term birth and the presence of cariogenic and\nperiodontal pathogens has not been determined. The aim of this study was to identify the presence and quantities of\nrepresentative cariogenic and periodontal pathogens in the oral cavities of 12-month-old infants and compare the\noccurrence of these microbes between a cohort of pre-term infants with very low birthweights and a control cohort\ncomprising full-term infants.\nMethods: The research cohort was composed of 69 one-year-old infants, of whom 24 were born prematurely with very\nlow birthweights and 45 of whom were carried to full term. Information regarding the infants� gestational age, mode of\ndelivery, general health status, birthweight and antibiotic use were obtained from hospital records and through oral\ninterviews. At 12 months of age, both groups of infants were examined, and unstimulated saliva samples from the\ndorsum of the tongue and dental plaque samples were collected. The microorganisms (Streptococcus mutans,\nLactobacillus spp., Actinomyces spp., Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Tannerella\nforsythia, Treponema denticola, Peptostreptococcus micros, Prevotella intermedia, Fusobacterium nucleatum) were\nidentified and their quantities were evaluated using a PCR-based method. The chi-squared and Fisher�s factorial\ntests were used for the statistical evaluations.\nResults: The infants had a high prevalence of cariogenic microbes and of Fusosbacterium nucleatum and\nAggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans. Cariogenic microbes were detected in 91.7% of the very low birthweight\ninfants and in all full-term infants. Periodontal pathogens were present in 83% of the pre-term infants and in 96%\nof the full-term infants. A significant difference was found between the cohorts in terms of the presence of S.\nmutans. Most of the very low birthweight infants had negative values of this microbe, while the full-term infants\nhad positive values.\nConclusions: This study confirms the early transmission of representative cariogenic and periodontal pathogens\nto the oral cavity of one-year-old infants and a higher prevalence of S. mutans in full-term infants than in\npremature infants.
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