ABSTRACT
Introducción Pese al aparente rol de la saliva como protector de la caries radicular, pocos estudios han estudiado la asociación con el flujo salival. Objetivo El propósito de este estudio fue determinar si un menor flujo salival se relaciona con un aumento en la prevalencia y actividad de la caries radicular en personas mayores autovalentes. Materiales y métodos Se aplicó una encuesta sociodemográfica y se solicitó una muestra de flujo salival no estimulado y estimulado a 332 personas mayores autovalentes. Mediante un examen clínico se obtuvo la presencia y actividad de la caries radicular utilizando los criterios ICDAS y los de Ekstrand, respectivamente. Se calculó el root caries index (RCI) y el porcentaje de caries radiculares activas (% CRA). Los datos fueron analizados con el test t de Student, Anova y Kruskal Wallis, con un nivel de significación de 0,05. Resultados El flujo salival fue menor en mujeres y disminuyó con el aumento de la cantidad de fármacos y enfermedades sistémicas (p < 0,05). Ni el RCI ni el % CRA mostraron diferencias significativas en relación con el flujo salival no estimulado, pese a que ambos fueron levemente mayores en sujetos con un flujo salival estimulado normal (p < 0,05). Conclusión El flujo salival no parece asociarse numéricamente con una mayor presencia o actividad de caries radicular en adultos mayores autovalentes.
Introduction Although the role of saliva in the protection against root caries has been widely controversial, few studies have examined the association with salivary flow. Objective To determine if a decreased salivary flow is related to increased prevalence and activity of root caries in the elderly living in the community. Materials and methods A cross-sectional study was conducted on 332 elderly participants. Subjects were interviewed, completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, were orally examined, and donated a sample from unstimulated and stimulated salivary flow. Clinical examinations were carried out to assess prevalence and activity of root caries using ICDAS criteria. The Root Caries Index (RCI) and percentage of Active Root Caries (ARC) were calculated. Data were analysed using the Student t test, ANOVA and Kruskal Wallis, with a significance level of .05. Results Salivary flow was significantly lower in women and in subjects with high drug consumption and systemic diseases (P < .05). Although neither RCI nor the percentage of ARC differed in relation to unstimulated salivary flow, they were slightly higher in people with normal stimulated salivary flow (P < .05). Conclusion Salivary flow does not appear to be numerically associated with the prevalence or the activity of root caries in independent older adults.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Middle Aged , Aged , Aging , Root Caries/epidemiology , Saliva/metabolism , Chile , Cross-Sectional Studies , Dental Caries/diagnosis , DMF Index , Surveys and QuestionnairesABSTRACT
There are currently no biomarkers to assess which patients with chronic indeterminate Chagas disease will develop heart disease and which will spend their entire life in this state. We hypothetize that the parasite burden and Trypanosoma cruzi genotypes are related to the presence of heart disease in patients with Chagas disease. This study is aimed to investigate the parasite burden and T. cruzi genotypes in chagasic cardiopaths versus chagasic individuals without cardiac involvement according to the New York Heart Association. Patients with chronic Chagas disease, 50 with and 50 without cardiopathy (controls), groups A and B, respectively, were submitted to anamnesis, physical examination, and electrocardiogram. Echo-Doppler was performed for group A; all important known causes of cardiopathy were discarded. Xenodiagnosis, conventional PCR, and quantitative PCR were performed on patients of both groups. T. cruzi genotyping was done for 25 patients of group A and 20 of group B. The 50 cardiopaths had 80 electrocardiographic alterations, most of them in grade II of the New York Heart Association classification; 49 were classified in grade I by Echo-Doppler, and only one patient was in grade III. The difference in average parasitemia in patients of groups A and B was not significant. The most frequent T. cruzi DTU found was TcV. The parasite burden and genotype of the groups with and without cardiopathy were similar. Graphical abstract Imagen 1 Chronic chagas cardiopathy chest X-ray heart enlargement Figure 2 Chronic Chagas cardiopathy microaneurism of left ventricle. Cineangiography.
