COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Children are just as likely as adults to carry bacteria that put them at risk for gum disease, a recent study suggests.
Scientists at Ohio State University examined the mouths of 198 children, ranging in age from a few weeks to 18 years. They found that 37 percent of children had Porphyromonas gingivalis, the bacterium most clearly associated with periodontitis. Periodontitis, which is thought to affect more than 90 percent of people over 13 to some degree, is an inflammation of the tissue that joins the teeth and gums; it’s marked by irreversible loss of attachment of teeth to supporting structures.
“This rate was very similar to that found in adults,” said Ann L. Griffen, an associate professor of pediatric dentistry at Ohio State and co-author of the study. “However, these findings are different from what previous studies have shown and contrary to what is generally believed. People have assumed that children don’t acquire these bacteria until later in life and that periodontal disease wasn’t anything you needed to worry about in children.”
Griffen conducted this research with Dawn L. McClellan, graduate student and Eugene J. Leys, a research scientist in oral biology, both from Ohio State. The group’s work was published in a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Microbiology.
For their study, the researchers examined the mouths of 198 children up to age 18, including at least 10 subjects for each year of age. For each child, the researchers swabbed the saliva out of the mouth and inserted a small, sterile paper point into the gum pocket around each tooth. For infants who did not yet have teeth, the researchers applied the paper points to the cheek and the tongue areas.
To determine whether P. gingivalis bacteria were present on the paper points from each child’s mouth, the researchers used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) techniques. PCR techniques allow scientists to see the exact sequence of base pairs making up a particular segment of DNA -- its genetic code.
Results showed that P. gingivalis bacteria were present in 37 percent of the children and that all age groups had similar frequencies -- 15-year-olds, for example, had no higher rate of colonization than two-year-olds. The youngest child in whom P. gingivalis were present was 20 days old, Griffen said.
“These results suggest that P. gingivalis may be acquired in the first days of life,” she said.
Griffen and her colleagues have done further studies to determine how young children acquire these bacteria. These studies, she says, provide strong evidence that these bacteria are commonly passed among family members via intimate contact, such as kissing or sharing silverware. “These results, together with the results of the current study, suggest that contact with infected individuals may be a much better predictor of colonization than the age of the child.”
The current study only found evidence of P. gingivalis colonization in children; it did not find evidence of current infection or gum disease itself. Still, Griffen says, the fact that young children have these bacteria in their mouths is important.
“My assumption is that if the bacteria are there and the conditions are right, they may eventually reproduce and get to high levels,” she says. “These kids may be set up so that if the conditions are right, this chronic disease process could activate and progress.”
To test this idea, Griffen and her colleagues will continue to monitor the children in this study over time.
“If P. gingivalis acquired in early childhood is maintained over time, it could be determined to be a long-term risk factor for the development of periodontal disease,” she said.
For now, Griffen says that parents with periodontal disease should recognize that their kids are going to be at higher risk of acquiring P. gingivalis bacteria and should plan prevention accordingly.
“Parents ought to get their own disease treated and under control,” she said. “They should also keep their children’s mouths very clean so that the bacteria don’t have a chance to get established.”
Contact: Ann L. Griffen, (614) 292-1150; Griffen.1@osu.edu
Written by Kelly McConaghy Kershner