This thesis is based on the following original publications, which will be referred to in the text by their Roman numerals, and on some unpublished results.
I. Alaluusua S, Grönroos L, Kleemola-Kujala E. Streptococcus mutans , not detected? Oral Microbiol Immunol 1989: 4: 176-177.
II. Grönroos L, Mättö J, Saarela M, Luoma A-R, Luoma H, Jousimies-Somer H, Pyhälä L, Asikainen S, Alaluusua S. Chlorhexidine susceptibilities of mutans streptococcal serotypes and ribotypes. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 1995: 39: 894-898.
III. Alaluusua S, Mättö J, Grönroos L, Innilä S, Torkko H, Asikainen S, Jousimies-Somer H, Saarela M. Oral colonization by more than one clonal type of mutans streptococcus in children with nursing-bottle dental caries. Arch Oral Biol 1996: 41: 167-173.
IV. Grönroos L, Alaluusua S. Site-specific oral colonization of mutans streptococci detected by arbitrarily primed PCR fingerprinting. In press.
V. Alaluusua S, Grönroos L, Zhu X, Saarela M, Mättö J, Asikainen S, Fukushima K. Production of glucosyltransferases by clinical mutans streptococcal isolates as determined by semiquantitative cross-dot assay. Arch Oral Biol 1997: 42: 417-422.
VI. Grönroos L, Saarela M, Mättö J, Tanner-Salo U, Vuorela A, Alaluusua S. Mutacin production by Streptococcus mutans may promote transmission of bacteria from mother to child. Infect Immun 1998: 66: 2595-2600.