title: Effect of xylitol consumption on the plaque-saliva distribution of mutans streptococci and the occurrence and long-term survival of xylitol-resistant strains.
abstract: Since the exposure of mutans streptococci to xylitol is known to select for xylitol-resistant (XR) natural mutants, the occurrence and long-term survival of such xylitol-resistant strains was evaluated in a cross-sectional sampling of participants of the Ylivieska xylitol study four years after the original two-year experimental period. Paraffin-stimulated whole saliva was first collected, and then plaque was collected and pooled. The salivary and dental plaque mutans streptococci were enumerated after growth on TSY20B agar. The proportion of XR strains was determined by autoradiography with 14C-xylitol. A strong and significant correlation (r = 0.645 and p = 0.005) between the number of mutans streptococci in saliva and in dental plaque was observed in non-consumers of xylitol. Such a correlation totally disappeared (r = 0.098 and p = 0.612) in xylitol-exposed consumers (habitual and former xylitol-consumers). The proportion of the salivary XR mutants (35%) in non-consumers (n = 16) was significantly lower than in the xylitol-exposed consumers (79%) (n = 27), (p = 0.0001) or in former consumers (75%) (n = 13), (p = 0.0008) or in the habitual consumers (83%) (n = 14), (p = 0.004). The proportion of XR mutants in dental plaque was, on the average, much lower than in the corresponding saliva. The proportion of XR in the plaque of xylitol non-consumers was half of that of the xylitol-exposed group, but the difference was not statistically significant.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Groupe de Recherche en Ecologie Buccale, Ecole de médecine dentaire, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Trahan
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Söderling
authors.forename: M F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Dréan
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Chevrier
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Isokangas
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001422:Bacterial Adhesion / Q000187:drug effects; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003773:Dental Plaque / Q000382:microbiology*; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology*; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D014993:Xylitol / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D014993:Xylitol