Proinflammatory cytokines in early childhood caries: Salivary analysis in the mother/children pair
HighlightsHigh consumption of added sugars has been associated with caries and obesity.VEGF were correlated with caries, waist circumference and sugar intake in mothers.IL‐6 are correlated with the severity of caries in the mother‐children pair. &NA; Hypothesis: Proinflammatory cytokines are increased in saliva of mother/children pairs with caries. Design: Case‐control study involving caries‐free children (n = 20) and children with early childhood caries (ECC) (n = 20), and their mothers (n = 40). The maternal variables analyzed were waist circumference (WC), decayed, missing and filled teeth (DMFT) and sugar intake; and in the children were body mass index (BMI), def‐t and sugar intake. Salivary levels of VEGF, IL‐6 and TNF‐&agr; were analyzed of mother/children pairs. Results: In the mothers, salivary VEGF levels were correlated with DMFT (r = 0.35; p = .03), WC (r = 0.35; p = .02), and sugar intake (r = 0.32; p = .04). Higher salivary IL‐6 levels were also correlated with maternal DMFT (r = 0.45; p = .004) and WC (r = 0.32; p = .04). In the children, higher salivary VEGF levels were correlated with higher def‐t scores (r = 0.42; p = .008). Children with caries had a 63% higher median salivary VEGF and twofold higher mean IL‐6 levels compared to caries‐free children. Mothers of children with ECC showed higher mean of salivary IL‐6 levels compared to those of children without ECC (p = .03). Conclusion: Salivary proinflammatory cytokines are correlated with the severity of caries in the mother‐children pair. Obesity and excessive sugar consumption seem to underlie the associations between proinflammatory cytokines and caries in the family environment.