Objectives. Compare the total salivary Streptococci and Lactobacilli counts in cleft and noncleft children with differing caries experiences, correlate the bacterial counts with dmft/DMFT status and identify the different biotypes of Mutans Streptococci (MS). Patients. Group I included thirty subjects with dental caries (DC) and cleft lip and palate (CL/P); Group II had thirty subjects with DC but without CL/P. Group III comprised a control of thirty subjects with neither DC nor CL/P. Methodology. Enumeration of total salivary Streptococci and Lactobacilli was done by the plate count method and correlation of counts with dmft/ DMFT status examined. Differences in biochemical reactions were used to identify the biotypes. Results. Streptococci colonies in CL/P children with caries (64.30 ± 24.52) was significantly higher than in children with no CL/P or caries (45.57 ± 16.73). No significant differences in the Lactobacilli count were observed. dmft/DMFT status and Streptococci counts showed a strong positive correlation whereas Lactobacilli counts showed a moderate correlation. S. mutans was the predominant biotype. Conclusions. Higher total salivary Streptococci and Lactobacilli counts exist in cleft subjects with caries than in the non-cleft subjects. Positive correlation between dmft/DMFT scores and salivary Streptococci reinforces its role in DC. S. mutans and S. sobrinus are the biotypes more frequently associated with dental caries in children. 1. Introduction Dental caries is a complex process shrouded by many indirect factors which obscure the direct causes. Bacteria are thought to play an integral role in this process. Cariogenic microorganisms colonize on tooth surfaces, cause a marked reduction of pH in the presence of a sugar substrate, and consequently induce dental caries. Studies have shown that Streptococcus mutans is an efficient cariogenic microorganism [1, 2]. Most populations with a high caries experience have also reported positive associations between caries experience and salivary levels of Lactobacilli [3, 4]. CL/P individuals, in addition to the presence of anatomic and functional deficiencies, also have a higher prevalence of dental disease than normal children. The literature on CL/P subjects and dental caries is conflicting with reports suggesting that individuals born with oral clefts have a higher risk of caries [5–11] and there also exist studies that did not find any difference in caries experience between individuals born with clefts and unaffected controls [12–16]. A recent meta-analysis on the frequency of caries in
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