Figure 4

Significant decrease in the percentage of caries increment for the pit and fissure surface, but not for the smooth surfaces, by probiotic intervention. (A) The 100% stacked bars demonstrate the percentages of sound (white area; ICDAS score =0) and unsound (filled areas; ICDAS scores =1–6) surfaces from all five tooth surfaces, including pit and fissure, mesial, distal, buccal, and lingual, in the control (upper panel) and the probiotic (lower panel) groups. Note higher percentages of unsound surfaces in the pit and fissure surface than those in the other four surfaces. (B) The bar graph reveals significant reduction in the percentages of caries increment in the probiotic group for a combination of all five tooth surfaces and for the pit and fissure surface alone, but not for the combined four smooth surfaces, including mesial, distal, buccal and lingual surfaces. * = p < 0.05; ** = p = 0.01.