PROCEEDINGS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY INSERVICE TRAINING COURSE FOR THE EVALUATION OF DENTAL CARIES CONTROL TECHNICS September 8 through 13, 1947 TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9

THE USE OF PENICILLIN IN DENTAL CARIES CONTROL

¹ SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY, WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY, CLEVELAND, OHIO

1. The oral lactobacilli are sensitive to penicillin and the sensitivity to penicillin varies in degrees depending upon the strain.

2. There is good evidence that the lactobacillus count of the mouth can be reduced by the use of penicillin in one form or another.

3. There is evidence that the incidence of dental caries can be reduced in rats and hamsters by the use of penicillin, but as yet evidence is not available that a similar reduction will occur in human beings. In other words, the use of antibiotics of this kind is very definitely in the experimental stages.

From our experience, we can conclude that if it becomes desirable to use penicillin, its value, like many of the other materials that have been suggested, will depend entirely upon complete and conscientious cooperation of the patient. Such methods will not become good public health methods for the control of dental caries. In other words, the control of dental carries will ultimately depend upon the finding of the immunological factors and the antibiotic factors that are natural to an immune mouth and upon their induction to produce a state of resistance in the patient.