MODIFIED TSBB CULTURE MEDIA ENHANCE FASTER GROWTH OF STREPTOCOCCI MUTANS AS COMPARED TO EXISTING CULTURE MEDIA

There are various studies on growth of Streptococcus mutans which was done by different scientists on different media but it has been found that there is still some deficiency in existing medium. In our study we have tried to prepare a modified, less laborious and more selective medium for Streptococcus mutans which is specific for their growth. We studied 10 plaque samples from caries active school children and 2 reference strains of Streptococcus mutans ATCC 25175 (serotype c) and OMZ 61 (serotype a) to evaluate the selectivity and sensitivity of our modified medium i.e TSBB (Thioglycolate Sucrose Blood Bacitracin) agar. To check efficiency of our modified TSBB medium, both reference strains and plaque samples were plated on TSBB and other four old existing media i.e TYCSB, TSY20B, MM10, and GSTB for their comparison and evaluation. In our study it was found that highest recovery of Streptococcus mutans was observed on TSBB medium followed by TYCSB medium. TSBB medium inhibits the all Streptococcus species other than Streptococcus mutans present in the oral cavity. Another advantage of TSBB medium is that it does not require anaerobic conditions for isolation of Streptococcus mutans as thioglycolate medium itself is an anaerobic medium. By this we can conclude that this modified TSBB media is more efficient, selective and sensitive for isolating Streptococcus mutans in comparison to other four existing media.