De Klerk, Henry Charles.2019-02-262019-02-261968-05https://hdl.handle.net/10539/26458Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M.D. in the Faculty of Medicine University of Pretoria Pretoria May 1968The incidence of dental caries in South Africa is high (Ockerse, 1947) and in 1955 the Minister of Health and Nutrition instructed his departments to appoint a committee to investigate methods by which dental health in this country could be improved. In 1957 a report submitted by this committee emphasized, among other recommendations, the need for fundamental research into dental health. The report was accepted by the Minister and implementation of its proposals was begun in the same year by the establishment of the Nutrition and Dental Health Research Group of the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research under the honorary directorship of Professor C.L. de Jager, Head of the Department of Oral and Dental Pathology, and Dean of the Faculty of Dentistry of the University of Pretoria.enOral HealthDental Health ServicesLactobacillusThesis