ABSTRACT
Prader Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a relatively rare neurogenetic illness. It is of interest to dentists for its clinical characteristics.The aim of this study was to evaluate the amount of saliva and the presence of Streptococcus mutans (Smutans) in patients with this syndrome. We measured saliva stimulated by chewing paraffin tablets for 5 minutes, andcultured saliva samples in order to determine the colony-forming units (CFUs) of S mutans. The study was conductedin a group of 10 children with PWS at the Hospital Sant Joan de Déu, Barcelona. Results showed that patients withPWS had lower saliva secretion than considered normal for a standard population and most cultures presented ahigh number of colony-forming units. We conclude that these patients are likely to present caries, and stress the needto place special emphasis on prevention (AU)