Potency of Probiotic Curd Consumption on Salivary S Mutans Count among Rural School Children

Abstract

Probiotics to be the next-most important immune defense system when commonly prescribed antibiotics are rendered useless by antibiotic resistance. The use of probiotics in antibiotic resistance is termed as microbial interference therapy. Probiotics is defined as bacterial cultures or living micro-organisms which upon ingestion in certain number, exert health benefits beyond inherent general nutrition and support a good healthy intestinal bacterial flora. The study was designed to compare the potency of probiotic curd on S mutans count before and after consumption. Thirty children were randomly selected from Dyandeep English Medium school khed for the study. The selected children were equally divided into two groups I, (probiotic curd group) and II (normal curd group) comprising of 15 children in each group who were given probiotic curd (which contained Bifido Bacterium 12) and plain curd respectively for a period of 7 days. Saliva collection was done after the clinical examination. Present study reveals that the use of probiotic products could be an alternative strategy for displacing pathogenic microorganisms by probiotic bacteria and can thus be exploited for the prevention of enamel demineralization.