Objective: Genotypic diversity and polymorphism of Streptococcus mutans remain as a topic of interest, as this provides a satisfactory explanation for the contrasting caries status in people harboring Sterptococcus mutans. This systematic review aimed to analyze and appraise Genomic diversity of Streptococcus mutans and its relationship in Early Childhood Caries.
Methods: A literature search was conducted until August 2020 using PubMed, Cochrane central, SIGLE using search keywords and MeSH headings include "Early Childhood caries", "Streptococcus mutans" and "Genotypic diversity". Apart from the aforementioned electric search, manual search was also done. The retrieved papers were assessed by three review authors and the disagreements were discussed and the final decision was made by consensus. Qualities of the included studies were assessed and data were extracted for analysis.
Results: A total of 4081 papers were retrieved for screening after the removal of duplicate articles. Among the retrieved studies, 4074 papers did not satisfy the study inclusion criteria. Finally, those 7 papers which fulfilled all the inclusion criteria were selected and reviewed systematically.
Conclusion: Genetic polymorphism and genetic mutation exist in S.mutans strain and the missense mutation varies between children with and without Early Childhood caries. The number of genotypes of S.mutans varies between caries active and caries-free children. Due to the lack of adequate studies on gene mutations for direct comparison, further studies are needed to evaluate these gene mutation and its diversities to draw a definitive conclusion.
Keywords: Early childhood caries; Gene mutation; Genotypic diversity; Streptococcus mutans.
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