Introduction: Dental caries is one of the most common chronic and multifactorial disease affecting the human population. The appearance of a caries lesion is determined by the coexistence of three main factors: acidogenic and acidophilic microorganisms, carbohydrates derived from the diet and host factors. Caries develops as a result of an ecological imbalance in the stable oral microbiom. Streptococcus mutans, other Streptococci of the so-called non-Mutans streptococci group, Actinomyces and Lactobacillus play a key role in this process. The aim of our research is to detect the bacteria Streptococcus mutans, Streptococcus sobrinus, Streptococcus salivarius, Streptococcus mitis in saliva and to analyze the interdependence of dental status and the degree of dental caries activity with each examined parameter separately. Material and method: The study included 71 children (26 females and 45 males) aged 12 years. We selected the 12-year-old age group based on WHO recommendations, which recommends that age for global monitoring of dental caries and applies only to children with permanent dentition. Results: The data relating to the detection of Streptococcus mutans in the saliva of children with permanent teeth showed that in the experimental group of 40 (56.30%) children in total, Streptococcus mutans were isolated in 28 (39.40%) children and in 12 (16.90%) children were not isolated from the saliva. In the presented distribution of data relating to the detection of Streptococcus mutans in the saliva of children with permanent teeth there is a significant difference between the two groups (p<0.01). Conclusions: Streptococcus mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus are considered the main etiological factors for the occurrence of dental caries. Keywords: Streptococcus mutans, dental caries, saliva, permanent dentition.
Naskova et al. (2025) studied this question.