Purpose: To evaluate the effect of Probiotic Streptococcus Salivarius K12 and M18 Lozenges on the Cariogram (Cariogram Mobile application Version 1.3 developed by Wong Jung Ming, Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore) parameters of patients with high caries risk. Materials and Methods: Fourty-two subjects were randomly allocated to Group 1 and 2 who received BLIS K12 TM and BLIS M18 TM probiotics (Blis Probiotics, Dunedin, New Zealand) respectively along with oral hygiene instructions and Group 3 (control) received only oral hygiene instructions with 1:1:1 allocation ratio. Subjects were instructed to follow the instructions and use the probiotics for a period of three months. Their caries risk was assessed using Cariogram software at baseline and 30 days after the use of probiotics. Change in the chance to avoid new cavities was recorded and statistically analysed using appropriate statistical tests. Results: About 38 subjects completed the trial with a drop-out count of eight. Multiple imputations were carried out for the missing data using an expectation-maximization algorithm. The mean percentage of actual chance to avoid new cavities was found to be 47.14 ± 6.837; 41.36 ± 16.04 and 32.50 ± 14.54 among the subjects in Group 1, Group 2, and Group 3 respectively. The mean percentage difference between the three groups was found to be statistically significant (p-value = 0.047). Dunn’s pair-wise comparison showed a significant mean percentage difference between Group 1 (BLIS K12) and Group 3 (control) (p=0.020). Conclusion: It can be concluded that the use of BLIS K12 TM and BLIS M18 TM probiotics for three months resulted in a considerable decrease in the caries risk. Further long-term clinical trials are needed to evaluate the difference in caries risk following the use of BLIS K12 TM and BLIS M18 TM among different age and risk groups.

Introduction: Probiotics in caries prevention is a subject of growing interest due to their specific activities and inhibitory effects on the cariogenic organisms. Though numerous reviews have evaluated the effect of probiotics in caries prevention, very few have focussed on the probiotic streptococcus strains, none of them have emphasised on the effect of probiotic Streptococcus strains on the salivary Streptococcus mutans count. Aim: To evaluate the current literature on the association between oral probiotic Streptococcus supplements on the Streptococcus mutans level. Materials and Methods: A focused PICO question was formulated. Comprehensive literature searches were independently performed by two reviewers in various electronic databases. Randomised control trials in humans in which oral probiotic Streptococcus supplements were used to alter the salivary Streptococcus mutans count were included. Risk of bias and data extraction of the included articles was performed. Results: Five studies were included in the qualitative synthesis. The quality of the included studies was quite low as only one among the five studies had moderate risk of bias while all others had a high risk of bias. Conclusion: Within the limitations of the available data, it can be concluded that probiotic Streptococcus supplements have a positive effect on reducing the Streptococcus mutans levels as long as they are being used.

Background: Over the years, probiotics have emerged as successful supplements for oral care management. Despite their extensive benefits and uses, their application in dental care is less due to limited knowledge about them among dentists. Aim: This study aimed to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice in using probiotics for oral health among dental students of Chennai city. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 209 dental students through Google Forms. Pretested questionnaire with 14 close-ended questions was used. Ethical clearance and consent were obtained before the study. Statistical test was computed using SPSS version 20, and P value was kept at < 0.05 for significance. Results: Majority of the participants (86%) were aware of the probiotics and its use, but hardly 19% of them had put their knowledge into practice. A statistically significant difference was obtained between the male and female participants with the knowledge domain of the questionnaire (P = 0.021*, 0.006*, 0.048*). Conclusion: From the present study, we can conclude that the participants were well aware of the term probiotics but hesitated to prescribe it to their patients as their awareness of the availability of probiotics was less.

To identify the genetic characterization of S mutans strains isolated from the caries-free and caries-active population using arbitrarily primed -polymerase chain reaction (AP-PCR). Materials and methodsThirty-five subjects with a decayed missing and filled teeth (DMFT) score of 0 were allocated to the cariesfree group and 35 subjects with a DMFT score greater than four were allocated to the caries-active group and salivary samples were collected. The samples were processed and the colony forming units (CFU) of S mutans were determined for all the samples. About three colonies resembling S mutans from each subject were subjected to deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) isolation, a purification process was performed, and DNA was analyzed by AP-PCR. ResultsAmong the 210 isolates from 35 caries-active and 35 caries-free subjects that were analyzed by AP-PCR, 41.9% had a single genotype, 25.8% had two genotypes, 19.4% had three genotypes, 9.7% had four genotypes and 3.2% had more than four genotypes among the caries-free group. Among the caries-active group, 54.3% had a single genotype, 25.7% had two genotypes, 14.3% had three genotypes and 5.7% had four genotypes. ConclusionThe study concluded that different genotypic pattern was present in caries-free and caries-active subjects which indicate the occurrence of genetic polymorphism among the S mutans strains. There was no particular genotype of S mutans that was uniquely present in subjects in caries-active and caries-free individuals.

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