[Lactobacillus in the saliva of persons with carious and non-carious teeth]

The distribution of lactobacilli has been investigated quantitatively in the saliva of persons with carious and non-carious teeth. For this, a total of 500 students from the T.E.D. Ankara College, primary and middle school, aged 10-15, have been selected for investigation 315 students had non-carious teeth, whereas 185 suffered from carious teeth. Rogosa SL agar has been used for the cultivation of lactobacilli. The range of lactobacilli in the non-carious teeth group was 0-5 X 10(6). However, in the carious teeth group it was 0-6 X 10(6). The arithmetic mean of lactobacilli in the carious teeth was 1.9 X 10(5), but this was calculated to be 2.8 X 10(5) in the carious teeth group.