Seventy-seven first-time mothers were selected on the basis of high salivary counts of Strep. mutans [greater than 10(6) c.f.u. (colony forming units) per ml saliva]; 40 mothers were in the control group and 37 in the test group. Their infants were 3-8 months of age at the start of the study. A prophylactic programme for the test mothers, aiming at a reduction of Strep. mutans, was repeated at ...

BACKGROUND One promising way of reducing caries is by using sucrose substitutes in food. rubusoside is a prototype sweet substance isolated from the leaves of the plant Rubrus suavissimus S. Lee. (Rosaceae), and is rated sweeter than sucrose. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of rubusoside on Streptococcus mutans growth, acidogenicity, and adherence to glass in vitro. M...

INTRODUCTION Streptococcus mutans has been implicated as primary microorganisms which cause dental caries in humans. There has been an increased interest in the therapeutic properties of some medicinal plants and natural compounds which have demonstrated antibacterial activities. Grape is one of the plants of this group which contains tannin and polyphenolic compound. AIM To evaluate and comp...

The glucosyltransferases of Streptococcus mutans are recognized as important virulence factors for this cariogenic bacterium. To study the expression of the gtfB gene of S. mutans in biofilms, a gtfB promoter (PgtfB)-green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter system was developed. A Streptococcus-Escherichia coli shuttle vector harbouring a PGTFB::gfp cassette was introduced into S. mutans GS-5, ...

Streptococcus mutans is one of the principal agents of caries formation mainly, because of its ability to form biofilms at the tooth surface. Bacteriophages (phages) are promising antimicrobial agents that could be used to prevent or treat caries formation by S. mutans. The aim of this study was to isolate new S. mutans phages and to characterize their antimicrobial properties. A new phage, ɸAP...

1 Streptococcus mutans is one of several members of the oral indigenous biota linked with severe 2 early childhood caries (S-ECC). Because most humans harbor S. mutans, but not all manifest 3 disease, it has been proposed that the strains of S. mutans associated with S-ECC are 4 genetically distinct from those found in caries free (CF) children. The objective of this study was 5 to identify com...

Findings are presented from a prospective cohort study of timing of primary tooth emergence and timing of oral colonization of Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) in Australian twins. The paper focuses on differences in colonization timing in genetically identical monozygotic (MZ) twins. Timing of tooth emergence was based on parental report. Colonization timing of S. mutans were established by pl...

BACKGROUND AND AIM: Previous studies have shown that lactobacillus presented in food products affects oral ecology. In this study, we decided to show the effect of periodic use of Kidi Lact, a product containing probiotic bacteria which is recommended for improvement of gastrointestinal (GI) function in babies and children by physicians, on level of streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) in saliva am...

The lacE and lacG genes from Streptococcus mutans have been isolated and characterized, and their nucleotide sequence has been determined. The lacE gene encodes the lactose-specific Enzyme II component of the phosphoenolpyruvate-dependent phosphotransferase system (PTS). The lacG gene encodes the phospho-beta-galactosidase which cleaves the lactose phosphate that is formed by the lactose PTS. T...

Whole, unstimulated saliva and dental plaque were collected from 63 children ages 6-13 years, 29 with dental caries and 34 without. If a child was infected with Streptococcus mutans, it was isolated from dental plaque and characterized. Saliva was tested for IgM, IgG, and IgA that would bind indigenous S. mutans, if present, and for antibodies that would bind 6 laboratory strains of S. mutans, ...