Dynamics of morphological changes in oral fluid in the prevention of fissure caries in children

The aim was to investigate the changes in the morphological properties of oral fluid over time when applying a developed set of measures for the prevention of fissure caries in the first permanent molars in children. A total of 62 six-year-old children with fissure caries of the first permanent molars and 31 children without signs of carious lesions (control group) were examined. The study of oral fluid crystallisation was conducted using the method of Leus P.A. (1977). The mineralisation potential of oral fluid (MPOF) was expressed as the mean score depending on the identified crystal types. The analysis of the study results showed that six months after the start of preventive measures, a slight increase in type I crystals was observed in the oral fluid of children in the main group compared to baseline data (40.18±4.65% of cases, p>0.5). At the same time, the number of children with type III crystals in the main group decreased (16.45±2.32%, p>0.5), while in the control group, it increased (19.32±2.47% of cases, p>0.5) compared to the initial data. After two years of observation, type I crystals were most frequently found in the oral fluid of children in the main group (48.41±4.23% of cases), whereas in the control group, the number of children with this type of crystal decreased and was almost one and a half times lower than in the main group (p<0.05). In contrast, the number of children in the control group with type III crystals was twice as high as in the main group (22.34±2.87% and 11.51±2.56% of cases, respectively, p<0.05). It was established that in children who received the preventive measures, the MPOF was on average 2.73±0.07 points six months after the start of prevention, which was slightly higher than at the beginning of fissure caries prevention (2.57±0.12 points, respectively, p>0.05). In the control group, MPOF changed less noticeably (from 2.64±0.11 points at the beginning of the study to 2.66±0.11 points, p>0.5). After two years of observation, it was found that MPOF continued to increase in the main group, while in the control group, it decreased and returned to almost the initial level (2.65±0.07 points in the second year of observation and 2.64±0.08 points at the start, p>0.05)