# Caries bacteria tenacity?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caries-bacteria-tenacity/477379>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 16, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caries-bacteria-tenacity/477379 "2008-12-16T11:28:27Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Toxylon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@Toxylon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxylon)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caries-bacteria-tenacity/477379/1 "2008-12-16T11:28:27Z")

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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.

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**Author:** ![yoyodyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a9a28c/32.png) [@yoyodyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yoyodyne)\
**Post date:** [December 16, 2008, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/caries-bacteria-tenacity/477379/2 "2008-12-16T15:54:44Z")

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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.