According to archaeological evidence, dental caries went from rare to common when our ancestors began to farm.1 This fact will be important as we begin to study the characteristics of Streptococcus mutans that enables them to be the main initiators of dental caries in human subjects. The human mouth contains hundreds of species of bacteria, some improve oral health while some do not. Streptococcus mutans is one of the worst of these bacteria. “Streptococcus mutans [does] have a prominent, well-documented role in caries etiology.”2 In this article we will discuss (a) the history of Streptococcus mutans, (b) how S. mutans gets into our mouth, (c) and how S. mutans causes dental caries. The History of Streptococcus mutans. To truly understand
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In order for S. mutans to be the main initiator of dental caries it first needs to be present in the oral cavity. At birth infants’ mouths are sterile, but their mouths can soon be contaminated by other humans; i.e. parents kissing their infants on the lips. S. mutans depends on transmission routes to gain access to human’s mouths.4 “Frequent close contact with others seems to be enough to transmit S. mutans.”4 S. mutans generally thrives on hard surfaces which means it usually is not found in infants with no teeth and generally disappears when all teeth are extracted.7 However, a recent study verified the growth of S. mutans on furrows of the tongue in infants with no teeth.5 How Streptococcus mutans causes dental caries. S. mutans is the main initiator of dental caries in human subjects because of a variety of factors. First, S. mutans can bind to tooth surfaces.1 S. mutans expresses adhesion that can bind to salivary glycoprotein that is on the tooth surface.8 The tooth surface is negatively charged and thus attracts proteins (glycoproteins) on its surface forming a layer called …show more content…
mutans lives under acidic conditions and “becomes the dominant bacteria with permanent reduced pH”.6 S. mutans metabolism improves under low pH unlike other species in plaque. With this ability S. mutans can maintain or decrease the pH of the environment which creates a cycle that is favorable for itself and unfavorable for others in the oral mouth.6 Conclusion. We discussed (a) the history of Streptococcus mutans, (b) how S. mutans gets into our mouth, (c) and how S. mutans causes dental caries. We determined that S. mutans thrive off of our carbohydrate-rich diet, enters our mouths at a very young age, binds to our teeth, uses enzymes to convert sugar into acid, can be efficient in low and high concentrations of sugar, and becomes the dominant bacteria in our mouths. Due to these factors S. mutans really is the main initiator of dental caries in human
In order for S. mutans to be the main initiator of dental caries it first needs to be present in the oral cavity. At birth infants’ mouths are sterile, but their mouths can soon be contaminated by other humans; i.e. parents kissing their infants on the lips. S. mutans depends on transmission routes to gain access to human’s mouths.4 “Frequent close contact with others seems to be enough to transmit S. mutans.”4 S. mutans generally thrives on hard surfaces which means it usually is not found in infants with no teeth and generally disappears when all teeth are extracted.7 However, a recent study verified the growth of S. mutans on furrows of the tongue in infants with no teeth.5 How Streptococcus mutans causes dental caries. S. mutans is the main initiator of dental caries in human subjects because of a variety of factors. First, S. mutans can bind to tooth surfaces.1 S. mutans expresses adhesion that can bind to salivary glycoprotein that is on the tooth surface.8 The tooth surface is negatively charged and thus attracts proteins (glycoproteins) on its surface forming a layer called …show more content…
mutans lives under acidic conditions and “becomes the dominant bacteria with permanent reduced pH”.6 S. mutans metabolism improves under low pH unlike other species in plaque. With this ability S. mutans can maintain or decrease the pH of the environment which creates a cycle that is favorable for itself and unfavorable for others in the oral mouth.6 Conclusion. We discussed (a) the history of Streptococcus mutans, (b) how S. mutans gets into our mouth, (c) and how S. mutans causes dental caries. We determined that S. mutans thrive off of our carbohydrate-rich diet, enters our mouths at a very young age, binds to our teeth, uses enzymes to convert sugar into acid, can be efficient in low and high concentrations of sugar, and becomes the dominant bacteria in our mouths. Due to these factors S. mutans really is the main initiator of dental caries in human