ATP Content and Viability of Human Dental Plaque during Prolonged Starvation

Abstract

The ATP content of 10 dental plaque samples changed rapidly during starvation in a buffered salts medium. The ATP/mg plaque and ATP/colony-forming unit decreased by 50% during the 1st h of incubation at 37 °C, while viability remained relatively constant. For ATP/mg plaque, the coefficient of variation was least (33.2%) immediately after collection and dispersion and increased thereafter (to 42.6%). Therefore, ATP analysis shortly after plaque collection will provide the most sensitive and reproducible measure of viable plaque biomass.