Abstract: The study aimed to determine the stress response of oral pathogens to simple and complex sugars, common salts and metal ions residue in the oral cavity.
Method: Stock solution of three sugars: sucrose, glucose and fructose having concentration of 10x was prepared and sterilized by autoclaving. Salt stock sodium chloride, lead nitrate and copper sulfate of concentration 1mg/ml were prepared in autoclaved distilled water. The salt stock was serially diluted in sterilized distilled water to obtain a concentration of 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1 mg/ml. A stock of four metals: calcium, zinc, iron and lead having concentration 0.2mg/ml was prepared. The metals were further diluted in sterile distilled water so as to obtain concentration of 10, 20, 40, 80 ppm. The stock solution prepared from sugars, salts and metals was then used individually as basal media to determine the oral pathogens response.
Results: The data of sugar stress response showed sucrose had the highest bacterial growth attachment and fructose was the lowest. The salinity results showed sodium chloride had the highest bacterial attachment whereas lead nitrate and copper sulfate had moderately attachments.
Metal stress investigation showed that calcium metal had high attachment of biofilm and lead metal had less attachment.
Conclusion: It was evident that the concentration of sugars, salts and metals affected the growth of oral pathogens. The presence of biofilm attachment played a major role to establish the functional and structural integrity of microorganisms. The statistical analysis showed the P-value was 0.09161, F-calculated was 25.4382 and F-critical was 3.2873. Since F critical was smaller than F calculated, the null hypothesis (H0) was rejected and accepted alternative hypothesis (HA). Therefore there was a significant difference on how the sugars, salts and metals affected the bacterial growth population in the oral cavity.
Keywords: Oral pathogens, Stock solution, Biofilm formation, Stress response.
Title: Implications for Dental Health: Stress Response of Oral Pathogens to Food Residue
Author: Gad Onywere, Paul Gyles, Patience Bazuaye-Alonge, Phillip Mighty
International Journal of Healthcare Sciences
ISSN 2348-5728 (Online)
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