title: Influence of toothbrushing, eating and smoking on Dentocult SM Strip mutans test scores.
abstract: The Dentocult SM Strip mutans test (D-SM, Vivadent) is a popular method for estimating salivary mutans streptococci and is clinically used for the detection of potential caries risk patients. The influence of toothbrushing, eating and smoking on the reliability of D-SM test scores was assessed in 30 subjects aged 21-39 years. All experiments were performed 24 h after professional tooth cleaning in the morning of 3 consecutive days. On day 1 immediately before and 30 min after toothbrushing, D-SM tests were taken and total salivary colony-forming units per ml were determined. Following the same protocol, the influence of a standardized breakfast and of smoking was evaluated on day 2 and on day 3 respectively. Although all parameters significantly decreased the salivary colony-forming units per ml, only the standardized breakfast induced significant changes in the D-SM test results. Eating therefore should be avoided prior to the performance of the D-SM test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Conservative Dentistry, School of Dental Medicine, University of Tübingen, Germany.
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schlagenhauf
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Pommerencke
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Weiger
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003732:Dental Caries Activity Tests; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011934:Reagent Strips; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012463:Saliva / Q000382:microbiology*; D012907:Smoking; D013295:Streptococcus mutans / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D014099:Toothbrushing
chemical_list: D011934:Reagent Strips