Introduction
Publisher Summary
Clinical oral microbiology is the study of the specimens that are taken from patients who are suspected of having infections of the mouth and surrounding tissues. The purpose of studying such samples is to obtain the information that would assist the clinician in arriving at a definitive diagnosis and in giving advice about the management of the patient, especially concerning antimicrobial therapy. The more common oral and dental infections, such as caries and periodontal diseases, are different from almost all infections in other parts of the body. In medical microbiology, infections are exogenous and caused by a single pathogenic species, whereas endogenous polymicrobial infections are more common in the mouth. Therefore, in the investigation of many oral and dental infections, it is necessary to assess qualitative and quantitative changes in the normal oral microflora, instead of screening for a single non-commensal pathogen, as occurs in the majority of medical investigations.