Oral hygiene in edentulous infants and its influence on oral microbiota: should the health professionals recommend it? – a critical review

Abstract

Introduction: The indication of oral hygiene in edentulous babies is still controversial among health professionals, being necessary the search of this recommendation and the standardization of information. Objective: To investigate critically the evidence related to the indication of oral hygiene for edentulous babies. Methods: The search for articles was performed in the PUBMED, LILACS and GOOGLE SCHOLAR databases, in order to assess the following question: "Can oral cavity hygiene of edentulous babies influence oral microbiota? A search in 8 books of Pediatric Dentistry was also performed. Results: 317 articles were found (167-PUBMED, 146-GOOGLE SCHOLAR and 4-LILACS). There were no primary studies that evaluated the effect of oral hygiene of edentulous infants on microbiota, which impair the conduction of a systematic review. Thus, it was included for this review six studies that investigated microorganisms in the oral cavity of edentulous infants and the role of salivary immunoglobulins. Among the textbooks evaluated, only 4 indicated the oral hygiene in edentulous infants. Conclusion: According to the data, there are no primary studies that assessed the effect of oral hygiene in the oral microbiota of edentulous babies. It is relevant to conduct clinical studies in order to obtain scientific evidence about the indication or no of the oral hygiene in edentulous babies.

Keywords

• boca edêntula
• recém-nascido
• higiene bucal
• microbiota