Key points are not available for this paper at this time.
Streptococcus mutans , a major pathogen of dental caries, is regarded as a causative agent of infective endocarditis (IE), which mainly occurs in patients with underlying heart disease. However, it remains unknown whether severe dental caries that extend to pulp space represent a possible route of infection. In the present study, we evaluated the virulence of S. mutans for IE development using rats with concurrent severe dental caries and heart valve injury.
Nomura et al. (Mon,) studied this question.