Week #5 Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael: Sorry, Wrong Mutans

My project is progressing nicely. I have successfully identified (ask me how) Streptococcus salivarius, and realized that Streptococcus mutans was not growing in my plates because I was brushing my teeth before swabbing my mouth. Since mutans is removed by mechanical friction (i.e. brushing my teeth), I have simply been washing the little critters down the drain. Speaking of which, Josh said I needed to practice on my spitting technique and compared me to his small humans at home :)

After a couple, few, several, many, approximately 35 revisions, I am going to put my protocol into action next week. The final numbers (for now) are: 8 iterations of 30 second swishing (Matt prefers 'swooshing'), spitting, plating, and sealing every 20 minutes. Consequently, it will take me approximately 2.5 hours for each week I try a new tea. I will probably run Green Tea twice and if time permits, pick a couple of other kinds of tea. During the 2.5 hours of 'swooshing', Matt has implored me to fast. He isn't even allowing water. I feel like I am taking quite the beating this semester. 

On Wednesday, Dr. Cotter suggested I go a day without brushing my teeth to get a nice sample of mutans. I still need to talk to my therapist about that because I just don't think I can do it. One of my colleagues, who will go unnamed, used to be a dental hygienist and s/he assisted me in swabbing my mouth for the last time in an earnest effort to isolate my three original bacteria. S/he got excited when we lit the candle and placed it inside the jar (below). It was practically a celebration; and with that I say "Until next week my fellow S-Stem scholars." I am excited about finally obtaining quantitative empirical data from my experiment.