Biochemical Studies on the Formation and Composition of Dental Plaque in Relation to Dental Caries: Extracellular Polysaccharides

Abstract

Similar polysaccharides were extracted by dilute alkali from the matrix of the dental plaque of rats fed diets containing different sugars. The fructose components of the extracellular polysaccharides produced from sucrose by either of two streptococci or by the mixed oral flora were labile in the presence of oral bacteria.