Innate immunity signatures of early childhood caries (ECC) and severe early childhood caries (S-ECC)

Abstract

Caries that affects children under the age of 6 is known asearly childhood caries (ECC). According to the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD), ECC is defined as the presence of one or more teeth with caries (cavities or no cavities), missing teeth due to caries or the presence of restoration deciduous teeth in children under 71 months. If it occurred on the smooth surface of the tooth in children under 3 years of age, the disease is classified as severe early childhood caries (S-ECC). Streptococcusmutans plays important role in the etiology of caries of preschool children, which is a contagious pathological entity.The pathogenisan acidogenic and aciduricbacteria.The occurrence of caries is a complex process of interaction between host factors (teeth), microorganisms, substrates (carbohydrates) and the environment, including saliva. This mini review aims to summarizecurrent findings on several markers of innate immune system related to ECC and S-ECC namely lysozyme, salivarylactoferrin, IL-8, CD36 of salivaryneutrophils, and sCD14.