SciELO - Scientific Electronic Library Online

 
vol.22 issue2Radiographic interpretation of unilocular radiolucent mandibular lesionsMarginal fit analysis of premachined and castable UCLA abutments author indexsubject indexarticles search
Home Pagealphabetic serial listing  

Services on Demand

Journal

Article

Indicators

  • Have no cited articlesCited by SciELO

Related links

  • Have no similar articlesSimilars in SciELO

Share


Acta Odontológica Latinoamericana

On-line version ISSN 1852-4834

Abstract

GAMBOA, Fredy et al. Antagonistic action of indigenous Streptococcus mutans strains. Acta odontol. latinoam. [online]. 2009, vol.22, n.2, pp.129-138. ISSN 1852-4834.

Dental caries is an infectious process which ultimately destroys the tooth. Streptococcus mutans is considered to be the main agent causing this disease. If microorganisms with antagonistic action on S. mutans were found, they might provide a way of avoiding or controlling the disease. Within the framework of the Oral Microbial Ecology approach, the aim of this project was to identify S. mutans strains with antagonistic effect upon S. mutans. Saliva samples were taken from 66 children and cultured on Blood agar and Mitis Salivarius Bacitracin agar. They were incubated at 37oC in anaerobic atmosphere for 48 hours, after which bacteria were counted and biochemical tests performed on colonies compatible with S. mutans. Antagonistic effect was determined using the double layer in agar technique. In children without and with caries, the frequency of S. mutans was 91.7% and 96.7%, respectively. In the group of patients without caries, only two strains had no antagonistic action, and three strains had full antagonistic action (100%), while the rest showed different kinds of inhibitory action. In the group of patients with caries, only 5 strains had no antagonistic action, 32 strains had full antagonistic action (100%) and the rest had variable inhibitory action. To conclude, 112 S. mutans strains with high antagonistic potential were identified, which, after other requirements are fulfilled, could be used in caries prevention or control strategies.

Keywords : Dental caries; S. mutans; Antagonism; Probiotics.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in English     · English ( pdf )

 

Creative Commons License All the contents of this journal, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License