A short-term daily ingestion of lactobacilli-derived probiotics delivered by prepared straws or lozenges reduced the levels of salivary mutans streptococci in young adults.

Oral infections constitute some of the most common and costly forms of infections in humans. The concept of microbial ecological change as a mechanism for preventing dental disease is an important one while altered microbial ecology may lead to dental disease. New methods such as probiotic approaches (i.e. whole bacteria replacement therapy) to eliminate pathogenic members of the microbiota can be investigated. Bacteriotherapy is an alternative and promising way to combat infections by using harmless bacteria to displace pathogenic microorganisms. Probiotics are one of these new agents which are widely used for their therapeutic action. Limited research is available showing that some probiotic cultures may help dental improvement. Present paper focuses on possible oral benefits of probiotics.

Numerous studies focus on visits to dental clinics for emergent dental problems. Many are all-inclusive, studying traumatic injuries as well as visits for infection and other causes. Epidemiologic studies have focused on the investigation of the prevalence or incidence of dental injury. The patients were evaluated at Pediatric Dentistry, Marmara University Dental School, Istanbul over a 2-year period. For these 300 patients (446 teeth), specific diagnoses were evaluated. Dental injuries that presented most frequently in permanent dentition were crown fractures of enamel only and crown fractures of enamel and dentin. The most frequently presented dental injury in primary dentition were avulsions and crown fractures of enamel. The more frequent treatments for primary teeth were examination only. Bandage restoration, space maintainer were common procedures for permanent teeth.

The purpose of the present study is to assess the teachers' knowledge regarding dental trauma management in two south European cities. A three-part questionnaire comprised of questions on demographic data and knowledge was distributed to teachers in Porto and Istanbul. Seventy-eight teachers participated in the study; 23 had previously had formal dental trauma education. From the teachers interviewed, 58 of them admitted having no knowledge of dental trauma. Concerning knowledge, 29 teachers from Porto and 12 from Istanbul thought dental trauma emergency should be dealt with immediately. Knowledge of optimal storage media for avulsed permanent teeth was especially poor. In the present study, the majority of teachers did not know the importance of tetanus vaccine control in dental trauma. It is recommended that public education targeted at teachers should be carried out to increase dental trauma management knowledge.

The aim was to evaluate the effect of xylitol and probiotic chewing gums on salivary mutans streptococci (MS) and lactobacilli (LB). The material consisted of 80 healthy young adults (21-24 years) who volunteered after informed consent. They were assigned by random into one of four parallel study groups: A, probiotic gum group; B, xylitol gum group; C, probiotic + xylitol gum group; and D, placebo gum group. The gums were taken three times daily after meals, and the intervention period was 3 weeks. The probiotic gums contained two strains of Lactobacilli reuteri (ATCC 55730 at a dose of 1 x 10(8) CFU/gum and ATCC PTA 5289 at a dose of 1 x 10(8) CFU/gum), and each pellet of the xylitol gum contained approximately 1.0 g xylitol as single sweetener. Pretreatment and posttreatment samples of stimulated whole saliva were collected and quantified for MS and LB with chair-side kits. A statistically significant reduction (p < 0.05) of salivary MS was displayed in group A and B after the intervention when compared with baseline. A similar but nonsignificant tendency was seen in group C. No alterations of salivary LB was demonstrated in any group. In conclusion, daily chewing on gums containing probiotic bacteria or xylitol reduced the levels of salivary MS in a significant way. However, a combination of probiotic and xylitol gums did not seem to enhance this effect.

Daily consumtion of ice-cream containing probiotic bifidobacteria may reduce the salivary levels of mutans streptococci in young adults.

Previous studies have suggested that probiotic supplements in dairy products may affect the oral microbial ecology, but the effect in orthodontic patients has not previously been reported. The aim of the present study was to examine whether short-term consumption of fruit yogurt containing probiotic bifidobacteria would affect the levels of salivary mutans streptococci and lactobacilli in patients with fixed orthodontic appliances. A double-blind, randomized crossover study was performed and 24 healthy adolescents (12-16 years) undergoing orthodontic treatment were followed over four periods. During periods 2 and 4 (2 weeks each), the subjects ingested 200 g fruit yogurt containing Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DN-173010 (2 x 10(8) colony forming units/g) once daily or a control yogurt without viable bacteria. Periods 1 and 3 were run-in and wash-out periods of 1 and 6 weeks, respectively. Salivary mutans streptococci and lactobacilli were enumerated with chair-side kits before and after the yogurt consumption periods. Pre- and post-treatment values within each regimen were compared with a two-tailed marginal homogeneity test for categorical data. A statistically significant reduction of salivary mutans streptococci was recorded after probiotic yogurt consumption (P < 0.05), which was in contrast to the control yogurt. No significant alterations of the salivary lactobacilli counts were observed. Short-term daily consumption of fruit yogurt containing Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis DN-173010 may reduce the levels of mutans streptococci in saliva during orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances.

Probiotic bacteria are thought to reduce the risk of disease. Previous studies have suggested that lactobacilli-derived probiotics in dairy products may affect the oral ecology, but the effect of bifidobacteria has not previously been reported. The aim of the present study was to examine whether or not short-term consumption of yogurt containing bifidobacteria would affect the salivary levels of mutans streptococci and lactobacilli in young adults. A double-blind, randomized crossover study was performed and 21 healthy subjects were followed over four periods. During periods 2 and 4 (2 weeks each), they ingested 200 g yogurt containing Bifidobacterium DN-173 010 once daily or a control yogurt without viable bacteria. Periods 1 and 3 were run-in and washout periods, respectively. Salivary mutans streptococci and lactobacilli were enumerated with chair-side kits. A statistically significant reduction (p <0.05) of salivary mutans streptococci was recorded after the probiotic yogurt consumption, which was in contrast to the controls. A similar trend was seen for lactobacilli, but this decrease failed to reach statistical significance. In conclusion, probiotic bifidobacteria in yogurt may reduce the levels of selected caries-associated microorganisms in saliva.