Elevated antibody to D-alanyl lipoteichoic acid indicates caries experience associated with fluoride and gingival health

Cluster analysis was used to identify low antibody content. Within low and high responders (control and test subjects), the number of teeth that were decayed missing and filled (DMFT), or decayed only (DT) were regressed against fluoride exposure in the water supply and from dentrifice use. The latter was determined from gingival health: prevalences of plaque (PL) and bleeding on probing (BOP), and mean pocket depth (PD). Age was measured as a possible confounding cofactor.In 35 high responders, DMFT associated with length of exposure to fluoridated water (F score), PL and BOP (R2 = 0.51, p < 0.001), whereas in 67 low D-ala-IgG responders, DMFT associated with PL, age, and PD (R2 = 0.26, p < 0.001). BOP correlated strongly with number of 7 7 decayed teeth (DT) in 54 high responders (R2 = 0.57, p < 0.001), but poorly in 97 low responders (R2 = 0.12, p < 0.001). The strength of the PD association with DMFT, or of BOP with DT, in high responders significantly differed from that in low responders (p < 0.05).Caries associates with gingival health and fluoridated water exposure in high D-alanyl LTA antibody responders.Over the last 50 years, the widespread usage of fluoridated water and fluoridated dentrifices have been cited as major reasons for a decline in caries since the early 1970s [1], and for the appearance of a significant association between oral hygiene and caries experience [2-4]. An inverse relationship exists between salivary fluoride concentration and caries experience in the deciduous and permanent dentition [5], but fluoride concentration is excluded from most caries prediction models [6,7]. Acids in bacterial plaques cause caries in pits, fissures and interdental regions of teeth, but they also enhance the inhibitory effect of fluoride on demineralization, confounding the ability to predict caries from the salivary fluoride concentration [8,9].The greater the consumption of dietary sucrose, the greater the fall in pH and fraction of acidogenic, acid tole