The Effect of Type of Feeding on Salivary Immunoglobulin A (S-IgA) and Total Protein in Relation to Caries Severity among Children Aged 4-5 Years Old

Human milk is the best source for infant feeding and nutrition and has many short- and long-term medical advantages. Oral immunity as a part of body immunity may be affected by type of feeding. This study was conducted to determine the accumulative effects of type of feeding on concentration of salivary S-IgA, total salivary proteins and to determine the effect of type of feeding on caries severity. Seventy five children aged 4 and 5 years selected from children attending the Preventive clinic of Dental College in Baghdad University. They classified into three groups (breastfed group, bottle-fed group and mixed-fed group). The diagnosis of dental caries was done according to (d1-4 mfs) criteria for primary teeth. Stimulated saliva was collected from children under standardized conditions and chemically analyzed to determine the concentration of S-IgA by using ELISA kit and to determine concentration of salivary total proteins calorimetrically by using ready-made kits and spectrophotometer machine. Results showed that salivary S-IgA and Total proteins were normally distributed among those children according to Shapiro-Wilk test. Concentration of S-IgA was highest among breastfed children followed mixed-fed and finally by bottle-fed children (15.25mg/dl 0.63, 13.40mg/dl 0.38, 12.44mg/dl 0.32) respectively. Differences in concentrations were statistically highly significant according to analysis of variance. S-IgA was highly significant higher among breast and mixed fed children than that of bottle-fed children according to LSD test (pless than0.01. ). Concentration of total salivary proteins was highest among breastfed followed bottle-fed and finally mixed-fed (77.75 mg/dl 20.98, 67.25 mg/dl 26.50, 63.65 mg/dl 17.29) respectively. Differences in these concentrations were statistically significant according to analysis of variance. Total proteins were significantly higher among breastfed than that of bottle-fed groups (pless than0.05) according to LSD test. Fraction of caries severity (not normally distributed according to Shapiro-Wilk test) showed statistically no significant differences among the study groups according to Kruskal-Wallis test. Regarding effect of S-IgA on caries severity, statistically significant negative correlations were recorded between S-IgA and d1 (pless than0.05) and highly significant negative correlations were recorded with ds, dmfs d2 and d3) (pless than0.01). In conclusion breastfeeding enhance oral immune system by increasing concentration of salivary S-IgA and salivary total protiens. Salivary S-IgA protects teeth against initiation and progression of dental caries. Type of feeding may has no effect on caries severity due to multifactorial nature of caries.