Evaluation of topical effect of Probiotic formulation on Streptococcus mutans count in plaque in 7-12 year old children

Probiotics compete with tooth decay causing bacteria for carbohydrate resulting in substrate depletion, hence short term topical application of probiotics on teeth can replace cariogenic bacteria, Streptococcus mutans, resulting in reduced caries activity.

In this RCT on 10 children of 7-12 yrs age, topical probiotic application for 6 days showed >90% reduction in S.mutans count of oral plaque. Hence probiotic can be used as topical agent for caries prevention in children.