Caregivers' Perception of Oral Health-Related Quality of Life of Individuals with Down Syndrome.

Purpose: To evaluate the perception of caregivers of individuals with Down syndrome (DS) regarding the impact of oral conditions on their children's oral health-related quality of life (OHRQoL) and compare with the perception of caregivers of children without DS.
Methods: This is a comparative cross-sectional study. Participants were 144 four- to 18-year-old children with DS, matched by sex and age with a group without DS, and their caregivers. The children were assessed for dental caries experience, clinical consequences of untreated dental caries, gingival bleeding, visible plaque, and malocclusion. Caregivers answered a questionnaire on sociodemographic conditions and completed the Parental-Caregiver Perceptions Questionnaire (P-CPQ). Data analysis included the Wilcoxon test, chi-square test, and Poisson regression (PR).
Results: Caregivers of individuals with DS presented more negative perceptions of their children's OHRQoL in the functional limitations domain (P<0.01) and in the total P-CPQ score (P=0.02). The determining factors were clinical consequences of untreated dental caries (PR=1.72; 95 percent confidence interval [95% CI]=1.04 to 2.84) and visible plaque (PR=1.48; 95% CI=1.08 to 2.03).
Conclusion: Caregivers of individuals with DS presented more negative perceptions of the impact of oral conditions on their children's OHRQoL. Clinical consequences of untreated dental caries and visible plaque were the determining factors with the greatest impact on the perception of their children's OHRQoL.

Salivary Periodontopathic Bacteria in Children and Adolescents with Down Syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: To assess and compare salivary periodontopathic bacteria between groups of Down syndrome and non-Down syndrome children and adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included a sample of 30 Down syndrome children and adolescents (G-DS) and 30 age- and sex-matched non-Down syndrome subjects (G-ND). Clinical examination determined the gingival bleeding index (GBI) and plaque index. Unstimulated whole saliva samples were collected from all participants. The fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) technique identified the presence and density of eight periodontopathic bacteria in saliva. The statistical analysis included chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. RESULTS: In the G-DS group, bleeding on probing was more frequent (p = 0.037) and higher densities of Campylobacter rectus (p = 0.013), Porphyromonas gingivalis (p = 0.025), Treponema denticola (p = 0.026), Fusobacterium nucleatum (p = 0.013), Prevotella intermedia (p = 0.001) and Prevotella nigrescens (p = 0.008) were observed. Besides, in the G-DS, the densities of bacteria from the orange complex were significantly higher in the age group 3-7 years for F. nucleatum (p = 0.029), P. intermedia (p = 0.001) and P. nigrescens (p = 0.006). C. rectus was higher in the age group 8-12 years (p = 0.045). CONCLUSION: The results showed that children and adolescents with Down syndrome have higher susceptibility to periodontal disease and number of periodontopathic bacteria.