Streptococcus Mutans and its Detection - The Battle Continues

Abstract

Dental caries prevails as one of the most widely spread infectious disease worldwide. It is a ubiquitous disease of multifactorial origin in which microorganisms play the prime role for causation of the disease Susan Fisher-Owens conceptual model describes oral health being influenced by various level of factors that acts together. These multilevel factors are categorized into 5 sets which are genetics and biology; social environment; physical environment; health-influencing behaviors; and medical care; in individual, family and community levels, interacting across time and space. Considering the biological determinants microflora is an important aspect for causing the imbalance in the oral cavity leading to caries.1 When focusing on the flora Streptococcus Mutans are the chief etiological microorganisms which are held culprit for dental caries, therefore, a quantitative measure of S. mutans is said to be a dependable measure to forecast the true caries activity. S. mutans is considered to be an important biomarker of caries risk assessment. There are various methods to detect the S. mutans counts that include both conventional as well as latest advancements. The various conventional culture medias used are mitis salivarius with bacitracin (MSB), mitis salivarius kanamycin-bacitracin (MSKB), glucose-sucrose tellurite-bacitracin (GSTB), trypticase soy-sucrose bacitracin (TYS20B) and tryptone-yeast-cysteine sucrose-bacitracin (TYCSB) agars.2 All these medias are specific for S. mutans but requires a well-equipped laboratory and a minimum incubation period of 48hours and are therefore cumbersome and time consuming.