Dental caries risk assessment in children with congenital heart defects

Introduction. The present work was carried out with the aim of dental caries risk assessment in children with congenital heart defects (CHD). Material and methods: a case-control clinical study was performed on a sample of 76 children divided into 2 groups identical in structure. The research group consisted of 38 children with CHD aged between 7 and 18 years (L1). The control group (L0) consisted of 38 healthy children. Cariogram software was applied to assess the risk of developing dental caries (DC). Results: the caries risk was 20.72% higher in CHD subjects compared to L0 children. The main caries risk factors identified in L1 children were: the impact of congenital cardiac pathology and its medication, including decreased oral fluid flow due to diuretic preparations; unsatisfactory oral hygiene; Streptococcus mutans number in saliva >5x105 CFU/ml and lack of implementation of preventive measures. Conclusions: personalized prediction of DC in children with CHD is important for the development of effective methods to prevent Streptococcus mutans invasion of the blood stream and ultimately the endothelium of cardiac tissues.