Antibody response and dental caries in the bacterium Streptococcus-mono-associated, caries-resistant and...

Correlations between rat strain, agglutinating antibody responses in serum or saliva and caries incidence, previously observed in Harvard rats mono-associated with Streptococcus faecalis and given diet L128 and 5 per cent sucrose added to drinking water, were not found when experiments were repeated with the low-sucrose diet 305. Mono-association with either Streptococcus mutans 6715 or Strep. faecalis ND547 produced extensive caries in caries-susceptible (HCS) rats and little or no caries in resistant (HCR) ones, but caries incidence did not relate to levels of agglutinating antibodies in serum or saliva. There was markedly less serum antibody to Strep. faecalis in the HCR rats and more antibody in HCS rats, when compared to previous results, but this did not affect caries scores in either strain. No agglutinating antibody to Strep. mutans was detected in serum and indefinite antibody appeared in saliva. Under these conditions, the ability to produce an agglutinating antibody response did not appear to play a role in caries resistance.