The relationship of Streptococcus mutans spaP gene presence to dental caries severity on children in Denpasar City

Oral health problems, especially dental caries, are the most common health problems experienced by children in Indonesia. Streptococcus mutans as the main causative agent of dental caries has the spaP gene which plays a role in the initial process of bacterial invasion. Performing PCR on children's dental plaque samples can determine the presence of the genes spaP S.mutans. Then, the existing data were statistically analyzed using the logistic regression method to assess the relationship of the genes spaP S.mutans to the severity of dental caries. From the research results, 54 samples contained the spaP gene of S.mutans. The prevalence of gene S.mutans spaP in dental plaque in children aged 3-5 years in Denpasar City was 69.2%. The statistical ana-lysis results revealed that the spaP gene of S.mutans (p=0.016) had a p<0.05. It is concluded that the variable presence of the S.mutans spaP had a significant relationship with the severity of dental caries on children aged 3-5 years in Denpasar City.