Características epidemiológicas relativas à doença dental e infecção por Helicobacter pylori na cavidade oral de estudantes em Belém-Pará

Abstract

The infection by Helicobacter pylori is one of the most common in humans and despite having tropism by stomach, can be found in the oral cavity, maintaining a commensal relationship with the host, while dental caries is also an infectious disease and results from the metabolism of the bacterial plaque. Both infections are highly prevalent in developing countries, since these populations are more exposed to environmental risk factors, and are usually acquired during childhood. The prevalence of these infections was investigated in the oral cavity of school children with no symptoms of gastric diseases, from a population of Belém-Pa, in relation to some parameters of oral hygiene and health, socioeconomic conditions and genetic susceptibility factors like the ABO and Lewis blood groups. Were investigated 104 patients, with average age of 17 years. Of all the participants were collected saliva samples and dental plaque. Saliva was collected to identify the ABO and Lewis state secretor and estimation of salivary parameters, and both, saliva and plaque samples were collected for molecular analysis of 16S rRNA genes of H. pylori and FUT2. H. pylori was detected in 79.8% of the students, with a frequency of 66.35% in dental plaque and 58.65% in saliva. The caries prevalence was 82.8% in the population studied. The clinical evaluation of oral health showed that the average CPO-D found was 3.53. It was observed that the caries experience tends to increase as in addition to age and the H. pylori infection was higher in early childhood. The education level and number of dentist visits showed significant differences in relation to the presence of H. pylori. The phenotypic distribution of ABO and Lewis blood groups did not differ significantly between infected and uninfected individuals, explaining there is greater genetic susceptibility to infection by H. pylori and dental caries. Throughout this analysis, the high frequencies found prove the need for care and treatment of dental diseases, such as caries and it is suggested that H. pylori in the oral cavity can contribute to infection and re-infection of the stomach after treatment.