Inhibition of experimental dental caries by antibiotics.

A variety of antibiotic and chemotherapeutic agents were tested for their ability to inhibit the development of dental caries in Sprague-Dawley rats receiving the drugs in a coarse-particle sucrose-containing diet. Drugs which inhibit gram-positive microorganisms were effective inhibitors of caries, whereas agents which are active solely against gram-negative bacteria did not inhibit caries development. In vivo efficacy of the agents tested generally, but not invariably, paralleled in vitro inhibition of the growth of Streptococcus mutans strain FA-1, an organism which was isolated from carious Sprague-Dawley rats and which is known to induce caries in gnotobiotic Sprague-Dawley rats. Caries was significantly inhibited when 1-ephenamine penicillin (20 units/mg) was administered intermittently in the diet, 1 day per week or 1 week of every 4 weeks, but protection against caries was greatest when the same amount of the drug was fed continuously.