A member asked:

Is there a swab to test for bacteria in your mouth?

3 doctors weighed in across 2 answers

No: There is always bacteria in your mouth so swabbing for bacteria would be useless.

Answered 10/23/2012

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Dr. Dinh Bui answered

What for?: Your mouth will have all kinds of bacteria (over 300 strains, some pathological, some not) thus swab test will show bacteria. However, this is not important since the destruction of gum disease is due to the host reaction to the bacteria/bacterial product. Controlling the host reaction is the key to controlling and/or eliminating the gum disease.

Answered 4/12/2020

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