Effect of Gender on Dental Caries and Salivary Parameters of Children

Objective: To evaluate the dental caries index and salivary parameters in boys and girls. Method: Whole stimulated saliva by chewing Parafilm® was collected from 46 healthy children (24 boys and 22 girls) aged 4 to 6 years. The children were assigned to subgroups according to gender (boys and girls) and dental caries (CC – caries cavities; CF – caries free). Dental caries was evaluated using the WHO criteria and kappa=0.87. The CC group was defined by the presence of at least three surfaces requiring restoration while the CF group was characterized by the absence of clinically detectable caries (ceo-s=0). The following salivary parameters were evaluated: salivary flow, total protein concentration and peroxidase enzymatic activity. The results were compared by the Student’s t-test, ANOVA and Tukey’s multiple-comparison test (p≤0.05). Results: Children with dental caries presented a 33% reduction of salivary flow compared to the caries-free children (p≤0.05). Among the children with dental caries, the girls had a greater caries index than the boys (98%, p≤0.05). The girls presented more accentuated salivary parameters than boys, with greater total protein concentration, lower salivary flow and lower peroxidase activity (p≤0.05). Conclusion: This study suggests that gender might influence the development of dental caries and the salivary parameters in children.