Saliva Test for Caries Risk

最终，该项目的目标是产生一种简单的，非侵入性的唾液测试，能够评估龋齿风险。在牙科社区内，有一种趋势是将预防纳入治疗计划。该测试通过为牙科专业人员以及最终为患者提供确定龋齿发展风险的工具来促进这一举措。那些被确定为高或中等风险的患者，然后可以针对个性化的预防计划。过去的龋齿经验，DFS（龋和填充牙表面的数量）已成为未来龋齿发展的风险水平的最佳预测因子;然而，它是一个不可靠的措施。需要一种测试，提供标准的识别标准，并导致准确诊断龋齿风险，通过儿童和青年成年。初步研究显示唾液中的MUC 7粘蛋白与DFS之间存在强相关性。已完成的第一阶段研究包括100多名儿童和年轻人，将相关性扩展到7-9岁儿童的个体龋齿经历。一组新的预测因子被确定，比单独的粘蛋白更普遍。凝集素测定揭示了碳水化合物部分，其中一些是血型抗原样的，这导致了与DFS在整个未分级唾液中的相关性，其甚至比单独的粘蛋白更精确。用于评估龋齿风险的最新预测因子的水平的方法比粘蛋白定量更容易且不那么麻烦，从而为开发非常简单、可靠且易于商业化的测试提供了机会。第二阶段研究的目标是制作这些测试的工作模型，这些模型使用每个应用程序的相关技术。在第二阶段，还将从更多的年轻人和儿童中收集样本，扩大到不同年龄、种族或族裔，以进一步“普及”测试，从而扩大数据库。除了牙科专业人员可以使用的椅旁测试外，试纸测试可以通过针对资源有限的最需要的人对口腔健康产生全球影响。

DESCRIPTION: Ultimately, the goal of this project is to produce a simple, non-invasive saliva test, which is able to assess caries risk. Within the Dental community, there is a trend to include prevention in the treatment plan. The test facilitates this move by offering the Dental professional, and ultimately the patient, the tool to determine the risk for caries development. Those patients who are identified as high or medium risk, can then be targeted for a personalized prevention program. Past caries experience, DFS (number of decayed and filled tooth surfaces) has been the best predictor for risk level of future caries development; however, it is an unreliable measure. There is need for a test that provides standard identification criteria and leads to an accurate diagnosis of caries risk through childhood and young adulthood. Preliminary studies showed a strong correlation between MUC7 mucin in saliva and DFS. The completed Phase I study included more than 100 children and young adults, extending correlations to individual caries experience in children 7-9 years old. A new set of predictors was identified that are more universal than mucins alone. Lectin assays revealed carbohydrate moieties, some of which are blood group antigen-like, that resulted in correlations with DFS in whole, unfractionated saliva that are even more precise than with mucin alone. The methods for assessing the levels of the newest predictors for caries risk are easier and less cumbersome than for mucin quantitation, thus opening opportunities to develop very simple, reliable tests that will be easy to commercialize. The goal of the Phase II Study is to produce working models of these tests, which use the relevant technology for each application. Also during Phase II, the data base will be increased by collecting samples from additional young adults and children expanding to different ages, and races or ethnicities, with the goal of further "universalizing" the test. In addition to a chair-side test that can be used by the Dental professional, the strip test could have world-wide impact on oral health by targeting those in most need where resources are limited.