Automatic Titration Method for Determination of Acid Production from Sugars and Sugar Alcohols in Small Samples of Dental Plaque Material

Abstract

A method for the determination of acid production in suspensions of 5–10 mg (wet weight) of human dental plaque is described. With this method it was possible to investigate the fermentability of up to 10–15 substances with plaque material from one subject. The amount of alkali required per unit of time to keep pH constant was followed by an automatic recording titration system. Sorbitol, maltitol and Lycasin® were fermented at a significantly slower rate than glucose, sucrose and invert sugar. No acid production was found from mannitol and xylitol. The acid production activity with fructose was on average 21% lower than that from glucose. However, this difference was not statistically well established (p < 0.05) in experiments with 5 subjects.