Acid Production From Different Carbohydrate Foods in Plaque and Saliva

IN RECENT years, several approaches have been made to the determination of the relative importance of different foods in causing dental decay. These include comparing the persistence and concentration of glucose in the saliva,1-4 measuring the acid formed in saliva,5 ' 6 and estimating decalcification potentials (food retained times acid formed in saliva)7 after consuming various carbo-hydrate-containing foods and beverages. However, what goes on in the saliva is probably of less importance in the causation of decay than what happens to foods in the bacterial accumulations or plaque on the tooth surface. Therefore, it seemed worth while to study acid production in plaques following the eating of various carbohydrate foods and, since no such comparisons have been made, at the same time find out the ex-tent to which acid formation in plaques paralleled that of lactic acid in saliva. METHODS To compare acid formation in the dental plaque after eating different foods, it was necessary to select subjects with plaques which produced low pH