[The association of Streptococcus mutans with human dental caries (author's transl)]

To investigate association of Streptococcus mutans with human dental caries, 323 adolescent students of Chung Shan Medical & Dental college were examined for decayed missing filled of tooth (DMFT) and then plaques were taken from their first and second upper molar's approximal surface using sterilized dental floss for S. mutans isolation. The result showed that among the 269 caries-active individuals 246 (94.98%) had detectable S. mutans, whereas among the 64 caries-free individuals only 23 (35.93%) were found positive, which showed significant association between plaque levels of S. mutans and dental caries (p less than 0.0001). Although the value is a little higher than that found in other literatures but has no statistically significant difference.