Morphologic Instability of Actinomycetes Associated with Enamel

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Abstract
The actinomycetes cultivatable from the surface of early carious enamel resemble the filamentous organisms observed on the surface of carious enamel histologically sectioned. They are intimately associated in culture with coccoidal organisms resembling those histologically observable within carious enamel. To determine whether the coccoidal forms were pleomorphic actinomycetes or whether they were generically separate organisms, direct microscopic observations were made on their growth and multiplication. The coccoidal organisms could give rise to branching filaments and were therefore pleomorphic actinomycetes. These observations suggest that the coccoidal and filamentous forms associated with the microscopic carious lesion may both be actinomycetes.