Impact of conditioning regimens on salivary function, caries-associated microorganisms and dental caries in children after bone marrow transplantation. A 4-year longitudinal study

Abstract

Salivary function, dental caries and caries-associated salivary microorganisms were investigated in children undergoing BMT during a 4-year longitudinal study. Fourteen children were conditioned with CY and TBI and 12 with CY with or without BU. Four years after BMT the mean salivary secretion rate was 1.3 ± 0.7 ml/min in the chemotherapy group, compared to 0.7 ± 0.5 in the TBI/CY group (P < 0.05). the mean salivary secretion rate fell from 0.9 ± 0.5 ml/min before tbi to 0.2 ± 0.1 after 3 months (P < 0.01), 0.3 ± 0.3 ml/min after 6 months (P < 0.01) and 0.5 ± 0.6, 1 year after tbi (P < 0.05). mean reduction in stimulated salivary flow 3 months after tbi was 78% in the tbi/cy group compared to 36% in the chemotherapy group (P < 0.05). children conditioned with chemotherapy showed an increased salivary flow compared to baseline; this was not found in tbi-treated children, suggesting that damage to the salivary glands may be permanent. four years after bmt, children conditioned with tbi had significantly higher counts of mutans streptococci (P < 0.05) and lactobacilli (P < 0.01) compared to age-matched controls. however, the prevalence of dental caries did not differ between children conditioned with tbi, chemotherapy and healthy controls.