EC Microbiology

Aim: Examining the microbiological implications of recent research carried out on decayed tooth or dental cavities clinically.

Methodology: Literature available was searched using different databases (PubMed, Google Scholar, Scopus) by the keywords like dental caries, carcinogenic bacteria and oral biofilms as well as additionally standard textbooks was also searched.

Results: Bacteria in the oral cavity show growths often in the forms of planktonic and biofilm. The vast majority of research conducted earlier focused mainly on the planktonic form of bacteria. Oral biofilm is mainly produced by clustering of bacterial cells and sticking to the surface of the tooth. The Bacterial cells gets attached to debris on the surface of tooth leading to formation of pellicle and thereby grow to form a colony of microorganisms. This colony of microorganisms when left undisturbed for a week will mature into sort of biofilm. The metabolism of biofilms leads to formation of different acids, which results in changes in the PH of the oral cavity and also causes alteration of the chemical composition of the tooth surface. These fluctuations in the level of PH for extended duration of time causes loss of calcium and phosphate, thereby making surface of the enamel porus. The fluctuations in the equilibrium between the loss of tooth minerals and biofilm fluid to be the main causative factor of dental caries. The prevention of growth of oral bacteria, adhesion and maturation becomes more difficult in the presence of resistance to antibiotics in dental practice. Brushing and flossing regularly and limiting the intake of sucrose-rich food can play a vital role for prevention of dental caries.

Discussion and Conclusion: This review showed a strong correlation exists between dental caries and various microorganism like S. mutans, Lactobacilli and Actinomyces. The possibility of other microorganism as a causative factor for dental caries is not ruled out.

Keywords: Caries; Oral Microbiology; Periodontitis; Acid

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