Microorganisms in saliva of diabetic patients treated at the UAT

Persons with diabetes present twice the risk of having disease-causing micro-organisms in their saliva, compared with persons without diabetes, because the saliva is involved in metabolism, and it is important to know which micro-organisms are present in this population.

Objective: To identify the micro-organisms present in the saliva of persons with diabetes and attending at the Faculty of Dentistry of UAT.

Materials and methods: We reviewed 52 patients who were admitted for the first time to the clinic at the Faculty of Dentistry. They were given a morning appointment and were instructed not to perform oral hygiene at least 12 hrs before the procedure. Each patient was given a Teflon tube to stimulate salivary secretion, Five minutes after saliva was obtained, it was poured into a polypropylene tube, and each sample was subjected to a ‘crop' of salt and mannitol, Biggy, GSC, and Columbia agar.

Results: In samples treated with salt and mannitol, we found: S. epidermis 37%, S/C 31%, S. aureus 30%. In the samples treated with Biggy, S/C 73%, and Candida albicans 27%. With GSC, we found S. epidermidis 28%, S. aureus 19%, and S. pneumoniae 18%, and in Columbia agar there were S. epidermidis 29%, and S. aureus, 21%. 

Conclusions: Although we have identified micro-organisms characteristic of saliva in persons with diabetes, it is important to note that these persons came from different communities in the state of Tlaxcala, and thus the findings cannot be extrapolated to the entire population.