sIgA and Lisozim as Biomarker of Early Childhood Caries Risk

Caries in children under 6 years old (Early Childhood Caries) is still a major oral health problems in many countries. The high prevalence of ECC should be prevented immediately based on the cause of caries. Saliva is one of the factors that play role in dental caries process, also play a role as caries prevention. This article describes the relationship between sIgA and salivary lysozyme to the incidence of ECC and the development of that protein as one of the caries biomarkers. Several studies reported that sIgA in caries-free children had higher concentrations than in ECC children. Lysozyme concentrations in unstimulated saliva are also significantly higher in the caries-free group compared with the ECC group. Determination of lysozyme and sIgA level in saliva may be helpful in diagnosing caries diseases and infections. It is concluded that the development of sIgA and salivary lysozyme can be used as one of the biomarkers for dental caries detection, risk assessment, diagnosis, prognosis and disease monitoring, and evaluation in ECC.