AN OVERVIEW ON THE PREVALENCE OF DRUG RESISTANT STREPTOCOCCUS MUTANS IN DENTAL CARIES PATIENTS

Chowdaiah M, Santosh Kumar, Dhamodhar P

Abstract: Drug resistance is a worldwide problem. Drug resistant bacteria are more common in health clinic. Streptococcus mutans is the etiological agent of dental plaque. Over a number of decades epidemiological studies on human populations have indicated an association between the presence of Streptococcus mutans in plaque and their prevalence in dental caries. S. mutans has been implicated as cariogenic bacteria, because they produce high level of lactic acid and extracellular polysaccharide. It is observed that S.mutans is gaining resistance to commonly prescribed drugs. In the present study dental plaque samples were collected from patients of different locality within Bangalore city at M. S. Ramaiah Dental College, to study the pattern of drug resistance. Among 100 dental samples collected, 40 samples were grouped under Bangalore urban population and S. mutans was isolated. The isolates were identified as S. mutans by standard biochemical tests and fermentation studies. The isolates which showed positive results for gram staining and fermentation test were further confirmed with haemolysis test. The subculture of this S. mutans isolates were maintained in TH slants for further analysis. Antibiotic Sensitivity test with commonly used antibiotics signified the emergence of drug resistance in S. mutans. Out of 40 isolates 23 isolates were drug-resistant S. mutans. About 56% isolates showed sensitivity to penicillin and Ciprofloxacin, while 30% of the isolates showed sensitivity to Erythromycin and 70% showed complete resistance. The present study indicated the increased resistance in S. mutans of urban population, towards the effective antibiotics Penicillin, Erythromycin and Ciprofloxacin

Keywords: Antibiotics, CLSI guidelines, Multidrug resistance, Sensitivity, Dentalcaries

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2016.0529003