Department of Community Dentistry, Faculty of Dentistry Hasanuddin University Dentist Makassar, Indonesia

Abstract

The main objective of caries prevention programs in the community is to reduce the number of colonies of cariogenicbacteria, especially Streptococcus. A method of caries preventionthat is currently developed is a method using probioticsthrough yogurt. This research is a laboratory based experiment using the cross over with control group design. Fifteensamples were collected randomly from a population of preclinical dentistry students of Hasanuddin University fromentry year 2008 until 2010. The results showed a significant difference between before and after drinking yogurt wherethe number of colonies of cariogenic bacteria in saliva reduced (p<0.05)and there is also a significant differencebetween the temperature of the yogurt in reducing the average number of cariogenic bacteria in the saliva after six andnine days yogurt consumption (p<0.05). In addition, there is a significant difference pH of saliva between before andafter drinking yoghurt (p <0.05). It is concluded that drinking yogurt reducts colony of cariogenic bacteria in youngadult saliva