Caries bacteria tenacity?

Factual Questions
1

Now that my two-year-old is grabbing anything she can get a hold of, oftentimes putting 'em in her mouth, I’d like to know about caries bacteria and the chances of her getting it by, for instance, licking a spoon that was in my mouth 30 minutes ago. How well does caries survive outside the human mouth?

With lousy dental genetics my wife and I really try to shield our girl from caries, but it’s getting to be a real headache.

2

You can’t shield or prevent someone from being colonized by the bacteria that produce tooth decay (mainly S. mutans) as soon as the teeth appear. Proper brushing and flossing and minimizing sucrose consumption are the only ways to reduce decay.