Role of Human Breast Milk versus Probiotic Supplemented and non- Supplemented Infant Formulas on Growth of Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli in a Group of Infants

Abstract

Early childhood caries (ECC) is a serious oral health condition that affects a large number of young children. If untreated, ECC can lead to serious health problems, significant pain, interference with eating, overuse of the emergency room, and loss of school time. Severe ECC can also affect a child’s ability to eat and grow properly, speak and communicate with others. Several etiological factors play a significant role in the initiation and progression of the disease including children’s early feeding practices, dietary habits, level of awareness, and practice of oral hygiene measures, socioeconomic status and maternal oral health. Breastfeeding has long been accused of being the main cause of ECC; although the cariogenicity of human milk is still the subject of some controversy. Many studies examined the association between breastfeeding and ECC, however, their findings produced conflicting results. Probiotics have been widely used in general medicine to infer health benefits, and recently their use in dentistry was documented to decrease oral pathogenic bacteria causing caries. Vehicles used for delivery of probiotics vary, as well as the strain of the probiotics used and their concentration. The use of formula milk as a vehicle for probiotics has proved to be beneficial in prevention and treatment of digestive diseases, feeding intolerance, diarrhea, and necrotizing enterocolitis. However, the use of probiotics in formula to prevent caries is still under investigation. Subsequently, this study was designed to evaluate the cariogenicity of breast milk and two commercially available infant formulas, France Lait® 1 (plain formula) and Nan® 1 Optipro (probiotic supplemented formula), by detecting the counts of Streptococcus mutans (S.mutans) and Lactobacilli in