DMFT index assessment, plaque pH, and microbiological analysis in children with special health care needs, India

AIM: To assess the DMFT index of children with Special Health Care Needs (SHCN) in Navi Mumbai. To correlate the DMFT index with Streptococcus mutans count in the supragingival bacterial biofilm and with plaque pH. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dental examination of 158 patients aged 5–18 years was conducted to determine the DMFT/dmft index. Supragingival plaque samples were collected from the buccal surfaces of all teeth. The samples were inoculated in mitis salivarius bacitracin agar medium and incubated at 37°C for 48 h. Supragingival plaque was collected from interproximal sites of the molar area (preferably mandibular) for conducting plaque pH test. Chi-square test and Pearson's correlation were used to find the significance of the study parameters on categorical scale between the two groups. RESULTS: The mean DMFT recorded was 4.90 ± 4.63 and the mean dmft recorded was 1.77 ± 3.14. Mean number of S. mutans colony-forming units found was 2.961 × 10(4). Mean plaque pH recorded was 6.2. CONCLUSION: No statistically significant correlation was found between the DMFT index with the number of S. mutans and plaque pH.