International Journal of Dental Sciences

Authors
Dr. Malini Venugopal

Abstract
Dental caries is one of the most widespread and common infectious diseases of childhood. Mutans Streptococci (MS) has been implicated as a primary etiological agent of dental caries and plays a decisive role in development of dental caries. Therefore, preventing the proliferation of MS in the microflora of the oral cavity is an important step to decrease the incidence of dental caries. Different methods were applied to control dental caries but it continues to be the single most prevalent oral infectious disease worldwide. To overcome the shortcomings an alternative therapy, Probiotics may be used. Probiotics is defined as live micro-organisms which, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. Various studies have come up in recent past exploring probiotics in fields of caries, periodontal diseases and few other areas and the results showed the beneficial effects of probiotics on oral health and on whole body in general. Given these recent developments, this paper reviews the background and conceptual framework of the use of these agents for improving oral health.