Association of Streptococcus mutans with Human Dental Decay

Abstract

The association of Streptococcus mutans with human dental decay was investigated by using several types of samples: (i) paraf'fin-stimulated saliva samples taken from children with from 0 to 15 decayed teeth; (ii) pooled occlusal and approximal plaque taken from children with no decayed or filled teeth, or from children with rampant caries of 10 or more teeth; (iii) plaque removed from single occlusal f'issures that were either carious or noncarious. The results showed a significant association between plaque levels of S. mutans and caries. The strongest association, P < 0.0001, was found when plaque was removed from single occlusal fissures. Seventy-one percent of' the carious f'issures had S. mutans accounting for more than 10% of' the viable flora, whereas 70% of' the fissures that were caries free had no detectable S. mutans. Sixtv-f'ive percent of' the pooled plaque samples from the children with rampant caries had S. mutans accounting for more than 10% of' the viable flora, whereas 40%,". of' the pooled samples f'rom children that were caries free had no detectable S. mutans. Saliva samples tended to have low levels of' S. mutans and were equivocal in demonstrating a relationship between S. mutans and caries. Streptococcus mutans will cause extensive cavitation of the teeth in several animal species fed high-sucrose diets (21). In these animals, S. mutans is the dominant plaque streptococcus (22, 23). S. mutans appears to be distributed worldwide in human dental plaque (1) and these human isolates are odontopathic in the animal models (22, 24, 44). An association between S. mutans and human decay has been suggested by many studies (3, 9, 14, 16, 17, 19, 24, 28, 31, 34, 36). However, these data are difficult to interpret given the complex dietary,

A comparison between different methods for prediction of caries activity

“…In the present study the increment of lactobacilli (for reviews see 7,21). The cor-caries in schoolchildren has been corresponding salivary factors are the related with the above factors and the aim secretion rate, the pH and the buffer of the investigation was to find out if any capacity (for a review see 22).…”

Biological mechanisms of early childhood caries

“…As in other types of coronal dental decay, the main bacteria implicated in ECC are of the group now termed "mutans streptococci" of which the species S. inutans and S. sobrims are the most commonly isolated in human dental caries (51,52). There is an abundance of evidence showing the association of mutans streptococci in the initiation as well as in the progression of dental caries in animals (2, 53,54) and humans (8, 55,56). Mutans streptococci are the principal bacteria isolated from children with ECC (7, 57-62).…”

Effect of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans from Aggressive Periodontitis patients on Streptococcus mutans

“…Whereas AgP is associated with Aa, it is well established that dental caries is caused by the gram-positive group of microorganismsmutans streptococci (ms) (Loesche, 1986), as well as other cariogenic bacteria (Becker et al, 2002;Piwat et al, 2010). The Aa colonize and survive on the oral mucosa, the tooth surface, and in the subgingival domain (Henderson et al, 2003), while Sm is found more in the supragingival biofilm (Loesche et al, 1975 andLoesche, 1986).…”

“…Therefore, the microbiological sampling of whole saliva can be used to detect the presence of both Aa, in spite of the fact that its main habitat is the subgingival biofilm, and Sm, which can be usually found in supragingival biofilm (Loesche et al, 1975;Lindquist et al, 1989;Umeda et al, 1998;Cortelli et al, 2005).…”