Patent ID: 7435558

Claim:
A method for the determination of the patient-related risk of caries by determination of lactic acid and/or lactate in samples from the oral cavity, wherein, in case of saliva having a sample volume of 0.1 ml, between 0.001 and 100 Units of lactate dehydrogenase are added and pyruvate is added in concentrations of between 0.001 μmol and 5 μmol per 0.1 ml of sample volume and, in the case of biofilms which have been obtained from an oral cavity surface of 0.01 to 25 cm 2 , between 0.001 and 100 Units of lactate dehydrogenase are added, and wherein in both cases NAD is present in a concentration between 0.001 and 10 mmol/l based on the entire test mixture and subsequently the resulting amount of NADH is measured, wherein the resulting amount of NADH detected is used to calculate the amount of lactic acid and/or lactate in the saliva or biofilm to determine the patient-related risk of caries.