Tooth decay is a serious health risk and a significant contributor to health care costs in both industrialized and developing nations. Tooth decay is the end result of a change in the balance of plaque ecology towards more acidogenic and aciduric bacterial species. Frequent and prolonged periods of low plaque pH, facilitated by the presence of fermentable simple carbohydrates drive the cycles o...

Intracellular polysaccharides (IPS) are glycogen-like storage polymers which contribute significantly to Streptococcus mutans-induced cariogenesis. We previously identified and cloned a locus from the S. mutans chromosome which is required for the accumulation of IPS. Sequencing of this locus revealed at least four contiguous open reading frames, all of which are preceded by a common promoter r...

CONTEXT Dental caries, a ubiquitous multifactorial infectious disease, is primarily caused by microorganisms like Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacillus acidophilus. Use of antimicrobials is an important strategy to curb cariogenic microorganisms. AIM The aim was to evaluate the in vitro antimicrobial activity of C. sinensis extract on S. mutans and L. acidophilus. STUDY SETTING AND DESIGN ...

Candida albicans is frequently detected with heavy infection of Streptococcus mutans in plaque-biofilms from children affected with early-childhood caries, a prevalent and costly oral disease. The presence of C. albicans enhances S. mutans growth within biofilms, yet the chemical interactions associated with bacterial accumulation remain unclear. Thus, this study was conducted to investigate ho...

Streptococcus mutans, with the ability of high-rate acid production and strong biofilm formation, is considered the predominant bacterial species in the pathogenesis of human dental caries. Natural products which may be bioactive against S. mutans have become a hot spot to researches to control dental caries. LongZhang Gargle, completely made from Chinese herbs, was investigated for its effects...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Enterococcus faecium is a normal bowel commensal and lactic acid bacterium that is rarely found in the oral cavity. This study investigated whether a non-pathogenic and non-biofilm strain of E. faecium functioned as a probiotic strain toward biofilm formation by Streptococcus mutans, which is an etiological agent for dental caries. METHODS The effects of E. faecium on s...

Sequencing upstream of the Streptococcus mutans gene for a CcpA gene homolog, regM, revealed an open reading frame, named amy, with homology to genes encoding a-amylases. The deduced amino acid sequence showed a strong similarity (60% amino acid identity) to the intracellular a-amylase of Streptococcus bovis and, in common with this enzyme, lacked a signal sequence. Amylase activity was found o...

Introduction: Oral diseases are among the most important worldwide infectious diseases. Due to drug resistance and the side effects of chemical drugs, the use of herbal medicines has increased. Scrophularia striata (S. striata) is a herbal flowering plant that is used in microbial infections. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the antimicrobial activity of S. striata essential oil on denta...

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the relationships of quantitative salivary levels of Streptococcus mutans and S. sobrinus in mothers with the colonization of mutans streptococci (MS) in plaque and caries status in their 2.5-year-old children. Furthermore, the dynamics of caries status in the children was evaluated in a 2-year follow-up survey. METHODS After oral examination of ...

UNLABELLED Streptococcus mutans is the main etiological agent for dental caries. Recently, photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been introduced as a new modality in bacterial decontamination. OBJECTIVE This in vitro study was carried out to evaluate the susceptibility of Streptococcus mutans to antibacterial PDT using two different photosensitizers and light sources. MATERIAL AND METHODS Standard...