RESULTS OF AN EIGHT-YEAR STUDY OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CARBOHYDRATE RESTRICTION IN REDUCING SALIVARY LACTOBACILLUS COUNTS

¹ College of Dentistry, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

The Ohio State University Dental Caries Control Laboratory has, over a period of eight years, made salivary lactobacillus counts on 1,089 patients. Of this number, 811 individuals had over 10,000 lactobacilli per cubic centimeter of saliva at the time of the initial counts. Two hundred seventy-eight had salivary lactobacillus counts of less than 5,000. Of these 278,101 subsequently had increased counts. Of the caries-active individuals, 410 completed two weeks of the Plan I diet with low counts. Of these, 318 completed Plan II with low counts. Of the 318, 225 completed Plan III with low counts. One hundred forty-two continued to have low counts after two weeks of Plan IV diet. Ninety-one of 126 individuals checked had low counts after six months on Plan IV. Fifty-three of seventy-five individuals checked had low counts after one year on Plan IV diet. Twenty-five of thirty-four individuals checked had low counts after two years on Plan IV diet. Fourteen of twenty-three individuals checked had low counts after three or more years on Plan IV. The results compare favorably with those published by Jay.