Oral Aspects of Steviosides

Fermentable carbohydrates are implicated in the etiology of biofilm associated oral diseases such as gingival inflammation and dental decay. Therefore, artificial and natural sweeteners were introduced into preventive dental care to replace sucrose. Steviol glycosides are intense natural sweeteners that might have a cariostatic potential. In current dental literature only a few reports were published dealing with possible dental health care effects of steviosides. After a basic introduction to oral biofilm diseases a literature review of steviosides in dental research will be given. Preliminary results of in-vitro tests concerning the influence of steviosides on growth rate and pH-development of oral biofilm species will be reported. The following oral biofilm associated organisms were chosen: S.mutans, S.sobrinus, S.salivarius and. These species were cultivated in brain-heart infusion. The viability of the bacteria was checked by measuring the OD Purity was controlled. The effect of Steviosid and Rebaudioside A on the growth of the cells was studied by adding the tested substrates at defined concentrations to the medium. The cells were grown at 37 degrees C at room atmosphere in 50 ml broth. Monitoring the growth up to the plateau-phase was performed by densitometry at 660 nm. The samples containing stevioside showed a significantly reduced growth rate and a significantly reduced pH decrease. Also rebaudioside had an impact on bacterial growth rates. Even the addition of stevial glycosides to carbohydrate sources had some effects. The estimated prospective potential of steviosides in oral preventive care will be illustrated.