• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.375-382
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• 2010

The purpose of this study was to evaluate suppression of Streptococcus mutans(S. mutans) colonization by long-term xylitol consumption among pregnant women who can easily get bad oral hygiene status during pregnancy and breast feeding. Participants were voluntarily recruited for a pregnant women's oral health prevention program, classified into two groups(a control and a xylitol group), and then followed for 18 months. Stimulated whole saliva was collected in the afternoon(1:00-3:00 p.m.) at baseline, 6 months, 12months, and 18 months. Information regarding oral health behavior(tooth brushing frequency and regular dental visits) was obtained via a questionnaire. S. mutans counts of the xylitol group decreased considerably between baseline and the re-examinations at 6, 12, and 18 months. Although the S. mutans counts decreased for all time points compared to baseline in the control group, these differences did not reach significance except 18 months. Regular chewing of xylitol gum over a long period may lead to decrease the colony counts of S. mutans.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.357-369
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• 2005

Streptococci are Gram-positive, facultative anaerobes and have no catalase activities. Among mutans streptococci containing ${\alpha}-type$ hemolytic activity, S. mutans is a causative agent for dental caries. As well as acid production yielding the demineralization of tooth enamel, adherence and colonization of S. mutans to the teeth are also important for its virulence. These early colonization are accomplished by the bacterial fibrillar protein, Antigen I/II (Ag I/II) and glucosyltransferase (GTF). Therefore, Ag I/II and GTF are reasonable targets for the development of vaccine against S. mutans GS-5. The ag I/II and gtfD genes from S. mutans GS-5 were cloned and sequenced. Sequence analyses showed the nucleotides sequence of cloned genes had high homology to the sequences previously reported. The sequence alignment of 280 nucleotides between the cloned Ag I/II and the available sequence of the corresponding S. mutans GS-5 showed the perfect match. Comparing with the sequence of gtfD from S. mutans UA159, the corresponding nucleotide sequence of S. mutans GS-5 showed some mismatches and the mismatches introduced changes in four residues out of 105 amino acids, yielding four missense mutations.

• Restorative Dentistry and Endodontics
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.170-180
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• 1997

Cariogenicity of the bacteria is attributed to their binding capacity to the teeth. Bacterial attachment to oral surfaces is an essential step for colonization and subsequently infection. Therefore, it is conceivable that caries prevention can be achieved fundamentally by inhibition of bacterial attachment. The rationale for caries prevention through the use of sugar substitutes or limited use of sugar has been revealed. Among many sugar substitutes, xylitol has been shown to exhibit the most profound cariostatic effect, inhibiting glucose metabolism and possibly binding of mutans streptococci. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of xylitol on binding of different species of oral bacteria. The effect of xylitol on binding of [$^3H$]-labeled oral bacteria to hydroxyapatite coated with human saliva(SHA) as a model for the pellicle-coated tooth surfaces was investigated. The strains of oral bacteria used in this study were A. viscosus T14V, A. viscosus WVU627, P. gingivaiis 2561, P. gingivalis A7Al-28, S. gordonii G9B, S. gordonii Challis, S. sobrinus 6715, S. mutans UA101, S. mutans KPSK -2, S. mutans T8, and S. mutans UA130. The obtained results were as follows: 1. P. gingivalis A7 Al-28, S. mutans UA130, S. mutans T8 grown with xylitol showed greater binding to SHA than the organism grown without xylitol. Among these, S. mutans T8 showed the greatest rate of increase in its binding to SHA ; 8-fold increase in its binding with xylitol. 2. S. mutans KPSK -2 grown with xylitol showed 2 times lesser binding to SHA than the organism grown without xylitol. 3. Binding ability of the remaining strains grown with xylitol to SHA was almost same as that of the organisms grown without xylitol. The overall results suggest that use of xylitol in the oral cavity may affect the complex oral bacterial ecosystem.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.401-410
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• 2006

Dental caries results from localized demineralization of tooth enamel by acids of bacterial origin produced from the fermentation of dietary sugars. A group of related oral bacteria, collectively known as mutans streptococci, are implicated as the primary etiological agents of human caries. Within this group, Streptococcus mutans has been known as a causative agent for dental caries. As well as acid production yielding the demineralization of tooth enamel, adherence and colonization of S. mutans to the teeth are also important for their virulence Cell-surface fibrillar proteins, which mediate adherence to the salivary pellicle are virulence components of mutans streptococci, and primary candidates for a human caries vaccine. Here we report that the AgI/II gene from S. mutans GS-5 were cloned by PCR amplification of the bacterial chromosomal DNA and the integrity of cloned genes were confirmed by nucleotide sequencing. Sequence analyses showed the sequence alignment of 280 nucleotides between the cloned AgI/II and the reported sequence of S. mutans GS-5 showed the perfect match The cloned genes which signal nucleotide was truncated, were transferred into bacterial expression vector and the recombinant proteins were purified as His-tag fusion proteins In order to generate polyclonal antibodies against the recombinant proteins, AgI/II mr, some $100{\mu}g$ of the proteins was injected into mice three times. It can be used for an effective vaccine production to prevent dental caries caused by pathogenic S. mutans.

• Journal of the korean academy of Pediatric Dentistry
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.587-596
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• 2006

Most of oral streptococci express the Antigen I/II (AgI/II) proteins, cell wall anchored adhesions. AgI/II protein binds to salivary agglutinin glycoprotein, a component of tooth pellicle and to ligands in other bacteria. These associations play important roles in bacterial colonization. Recently, it was reported that diverse host molecules also interact with AgI/II protein and that these interactions induce inflammatory responses from host cells. Among mutans streptococci containing -type hemolytic activity, Streptococcus mutans is a causative agent for dental caries. Compared with many other strains of S. mutans, GS-5 strain is unique in that this bacterium expresses truncated secretory AgI/II protein due to the nonsense mutation in the agI/II gene. This indicates that S. mutans GS-5 has a different clinical role and a recent report supported this idea based on the results from clinically isolated S. mutans strains. Previously, we had cloned agI/II gene from S. mutans GS-5 and generated recombinant N-terminal AgI/II protein. In this study, we further produced a hybridoma line expressing anti-AgI/II monoclonal antibodies named as 1C11A. This antibody showed high sensitivity to AgI/II protein in Western blot and ELISA. This new reagent will provide a basis for investigating the mechanisms of AgI/II-related diseases.

• Journal of dental hygiene science
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.182-190
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• 2013

Composition of oral microbial flora is suggested to play a role in the maintenance of oral health. Among them, Streptococcus mutans plays an essential role in the formation of dental plaque and it is being noticed as incipient infective bacteria of dental caries. The purpose of this study was to prepare the basic data about distribution of Streptococcus mutans detected from saliva by measuring colony density. It is well known that smoking as well as drinking is a factor of dental caries, however there are few investigations about distribution of Streptococcus mutans either smoking or drinking. The materials of this study were collected from students of dentistry college with general characteristics obtained by self-administered questionnaires. Students were asked to gently chew the paraffin to get saliva for 1 minute. Bacitracin disc in the culture medium was activated for 15 minutes, and then sample was incubated in the activated medium at $37^{\circ}C$ incubator for 48 hours. Streptococcus mutans colonization per 1 ml saliva was measured by the number of criteria. The severe levels of dental caries activity were significantly increased in the case of smoking (from 5.6% to 10%) or drinking (form 0% to 7%), respectively. Also, dental caries activity increased according to smoking and drinking periods longer. However, using the SPSS analytical process (Mann-Whitney's U), no significant differences were observed between the smoking and the non-smoking or the drinking and non-drinking, respectively. These results obtained from dental caries activity of saliva suggest that distribution of Streptococcus mutans following smoking or drinking can be used as a significant information for oral health.