Fig. 3

Formation rate and composition analysis of biofilms made by S. mutans NCTC 10449 (a, c, e) and clinical isolate 2366 (b, d, f) in BHI-sucrose medium (suc), and BHI-sucrose medium supplemented with eryhtritol (ery) or xylitol (xyl). a and b: Biofilm formation as measured in xCELLigence, the erythritol and xylitol curves significantly differed from sucrose in all time points, the line indicates the time period where there is a significant difference (p < 0.05) between erythritol and xylitol, c and d: Biofilm samples were collected at indicated time points and number of living bacteria were determined by plate counting, d and e: Amount of polysaccharides in the biofilm at different time points as measured by Anthrone method from collected biofilm samples. * significant difference (p < 0.05) between sucrose and xylitol, ^#significant difference (p < 0.05) between sucrose and erythritol, ^osignificant difference (p < 0.05) between erythritol and xylitol, **/^##/^oop < 0.01, ***/^###/^ooop < 0.001