Induction of Dental Caries in Gnotobiotic Rats by Streptococci of Human Origin

Abstract

ORLAND et al.¹ have shown that an enterococcus isolated from conventional rats with dental caries could induce caries when it was used to infect germfree rats receiving a diet rich in sugar. Fitzgerald et al.² later obtained similar results with a previously undescribed anaerobic streptococcus (Strain FA-1), and Fitzgerald and Keyes³ described the induction of caries in a conventional strain of albino hamsters with still another strain of anaerobic streptococcus (Strain HS-1). Zinner et al.⁴ isolated streptococci, designated AHT, from human caries. These streptococci could induce caries in hamsters. These human streptococcal strains were identical morphologically, antigenically and in biochemical fermentation patterns to the hamster (HS-1) types. The present communication reports the isolation from human caries lesions of streptococci which cause caries in gnotobiotic rats.