Research progress into probiotics for the prevention of dental caries

Caries is an important public health problem that affect the quality of life of residents, and microorganisms is the most important factor in its incidence. Probiotics are types of microorganisms that are beneficial to the human body and can regulate the microecological balance; thus, they have great potential for caries prevention. This paper reviews the caries prevention mechanism of probiotics, the research progress of probiotics of different genera, and the early colonization of probiotics and their safety. The literature review showed that probiotics aimed at caries prevention could colonize the oral cavity and played a role in caries prevention by inhibiting the growth of cariogenic bacteria and regulating host immunity. At present, probiotics used to prevent dental caries include probiotic Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Streptococcus. The positive effect of probiotics on dental caries has been confirmed in most clinical trials. Because probiotics include a variety of strains with strain-specific functions, different strains may be the reason for the lack of caries prevention in some clinical trials. The potential probiotic strains with a strong colonization ability and caries prevention effect in the oral cavity are the research hotspots for caries prevention probiotics.