Assessment of Oral Human Papillomavirus Prevalence in a Multi-ethnic Pediatric Clinic Population.

The human papillomavirus (HPV) family has been associated with many cancers, including oral cancer. Recent studies have also revealed HPV presence from healthy adult and pediatric patient saliva samples, though much less is known about the oral prevalence of high-risk HPV in healthy children and adolescents. The primary goal of this project was to assess the prevalence of HPV within a pediatric dental clinic using non-invasively collected saliva. In brief, saliva was collected and DNA isolated to screen for HPV strains HPV6, HPV11, HPV16, and HPV18. Screening of these samples (N = 187) revealed 9.2% (n = 19/187) harbored one or more HPV strains. Although the proportion of males:females and minorities:non-minorities positive for HPV was not statistically significantly different from the overall sample, an analysis of age revealed significantly more HPV-positive samples were found among the youngest age cohorts (3 to 5 years > 6 to 11 years > 12 to 17 years). In addition, most samples harbored HPV16 (n = 13/19 or 68.4%). These findings suggest oral HPV infection may, in fact, be more prevalent than previously described, which intimates that knowledge and awareness of the potential health effects and benefits of HPV vaccination may be appropriate for these patients.