Factors in Immunity and Susceptibility to Dental Caries

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Abstract
A summary is presented of studies on the possibility of employing Lacto-bacillus vaccines to lower the numbers of lactobacilli cultivable from the saliva of persons with caries activity. The evidence for a close association between these bacteria and occurrence of dental caries was the basis for use of the lactobacilli. Control of the lactobacilli in the mouth, by these methods, is supposedly based on the action of antibodies in the saliva. While preliminary studies indicated that increased blood antibodies for lactobacilli were accompanied by low counts of these microorganisms from saliva, more intensive work showed that such changes in counts were not statistically significant. Increased antibody titers were not maintained. In spite of the negative findings in these studies it is still recognized that some persons exhibit resistance to dental caries which can only be explained on the basis of a possible immunological principle.

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