Background: Prevention of dental caries plays a vital role in dental public health practice. Streptococcus mutans is considered to be the chief pathogen in caries development. One of caries preventive methods is probiotics which can interfere with bacterial colonization, compete with oral microorganisms.
Aim: To evaluate the effects of probiotics in yogurts on the salivary Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli colonies count among preschool children aged (3 – 6 years).
Materials and Methods: A controlled clinical trial was conducted on (350) children who were divided into two groups, control and study group. The control group instructed to ingest one cup of regular yogurt and the study group ingest yogurt with probiotics for two weeks. Salivary Streptococcus mutans and Lactobacilli levels were counted at the baseline and after one week and two weeks of usage. One way ANOVA test, unpaired t test and Tukey post hoc test were used to compare between the groups
Results: A statistically significant reduction in salivary Streptococcus mutans colonies count were seen with in the study group compared with the control group.
Conclusion: Probiotics showed maximum decrease in the Streptococcus mutans colonies count after short period of usage.