The Microbic Flora of the Dental Plaque in Relation to the Beginning of Caries

Dental Caries

“…The reports by Kligler in 1915 (62, 63) that plaques on carious surfaces had higher proportions of lactobacilli than plaques on caries-free surfaces prompted investigators to study the relationship of lactobacilli with this disease. In comparisons of groups, it was found that the numbers of lactobacilli in saliva or on the tooth surface statistically correlated with caries activity but this positive relationship was often absent in individual subjects (64)(65)(66)(67). The presence of lactobacilli in the mouth was also reported to precede clinically detectable carious lesions (66), and their numbers in saliva were positively influenced by the quantity of dietary carbohydrate ingested (68).…”

The Evanston Dental Caries Study. XXIII. Oral Lactobacilli and Decayed Tooth Surface Rates among Children in a Fluoridated Area

“…There was, however, a noticeable change in the lacto- 19,000 from an average count of 28,000 for the comparable aged baseline group examined in 1946. In 1952, the fifth year of fluoridation, the caries rate dropped to just over 9 surfaces, and the lactobacillus count averaged 21,000 per child.…”

Oral Microbiology

“…Of these forms the lactobacilli were found most frequently in plaques from carious areas, streptococci most frequently in plaques from noncarious areas. The same investigators together with Bradel (110) in 1946 reported further with respect to the flora of the dental plaque, identifying 27 varieties of microorganisms, and stating that only the lactobacilli increased in incidence with theappearance of the initial stages of carious decalcification of the enamel. Essen tially the same flora has been found in association with experi mental caries in the rat, induced by feeding a coarse-particle diet (111), and with experimental caries of the hamster (112).…”