| AP-PCR | arbitrarily primed polymerase chain reaction |
| ATCC | American Type Culture Collection |
| BHI | brothbrain heart infusion broth |
| bp | base pair |
| CFU | colony forming units |
| CHX | chlorhexidine |
| DMF | decayed, missing, filled |
| dmf | for deciduous teeth decayed, missing, filled |
| DNA | deoxyribonucleic acid |
| EDTA | ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid |
| GTF | glucosyltransferase |
| IDH | Institute of Dentistry, Helsinki |
| IPS | intracellular polysacharide |
| LB broth | Luria-Bertani broth |
| MAb | monoclonal antibody |
| MIC | minimal inhibitory concentration |
| MS | agarmitis salivarius agar |
| MSB agar | mitis salivarius agar with sucrose and bacitracin |
| n | number |
| NaF | sodium fluoride |
| NCCLS | National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards |
| PCR | polymerase chain reaction |
| RAPD | randomly amplified polymorphic DNA fingerprinting |
| REA | restriction endonuclease analysis |
| RFLP | restriction fragment length polymorphism |
| RNA | ribonucleic acid |
| rRNA | ribosomal RNA |
| SD | standard deviation |
| SDS | sodium dodecyl sulfate |
| 0.5xTBE buffer | 45 mM Tris, 45 mM boric acid, 1 mM EDTA |
| TE buffer | 10 mM Tris-HCl, 1 mM EDTA |
| Tris | tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane |
| TSA | trypticase soy agar |
| TSB | trypticase soy broth |
| UV | ultraviolet |