Effect of Probiotic Lactobacillus plantarum on Streptococcus mutans and Candida albicans Clinical Isolates from Children with Early Childhood Caries.

Probiotics interfere with pathogenic microorganisms or reinstate the natural microbiome. and are well-known emerging pathogenic bacteria/fungi for dental caries. In this study, three probiotic strains ( 8014, 14917, and 11741) were tested on and clinical isolates using a multispecies biofilm model simulating clinical cariogenic conditions. The ten pairs of clinical isolates of and were obtained from children with severe early childhood caries. Our study findings show a remarkable inhibitory effect of 14917 on and clinical isolates, resulting in significantly reduced growth of and , a compromised biofilm structure with a significantly smaller microbial and extracellular matrix and a less virulent microcolony structure. FurTre, plantaricin, an antimicrobial peptide produced by , inhibited the growth of and . The mechanistic assessment indicated that 14917 had a positive inhibitory impact on the expression of and virulence genes and virulent structure, such as hypha formation. Future utilization of 14917 and/or its antimicrobial peptide plantaricin could lead to a new paradigm shift in dental caries prevention.