Mutans streptococci: acquisition and transmission

Dental caries is an infectious and transmissible disease. The mutans streptococci (MS) are infectious agents most strongly associated with dental caries. Earlier studies demonstrated that infants acquire MS from their mothers and only after the eruption of primary teeth. More recent studies indicate...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inPediatric dentistry Vol. 28; no. 2; p. 106
Main Author Berkowitz, Robert J
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 01.03.2006
Subjects
Child, Preschool
Dental Caries - microbiology
Dental Caries - prevention & control
Disease Transmission, Infectious
Female
Humans
Infant
Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical
Mothers
Mouth - microbiology
Risk Factors
Streptococcus mutans - physiology
Streptococcus sobrinus - physiology
Tooth, Deciduous - microbiology
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Summary:Dental caries is an infectious and transmissible disease. The mutans streptococci (MS) are infectious agents most strongly associated with dental caries. Earlier studies demonstrated that infants acquire MS from their mothers and only after the eruption of primary teeth. More recent studies indicate that MS can colonize the mouths of predentate infants and that horizontal as well as vertical transmission does occur. The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate that these findings will likely facilitate the development of strategies to prevent or delay infant infection by these microbes, thereby reducing the prevalence of dental caries.
ISSN:0164-1263