testing mouth bacteria

[XD happiness...]

hi

 

for my science experiment i wanna test which part of the mouth has the most bacteria.

 

To test this i will swab 4 people's mouths in three locations (cheek, tongue, teeth) at different times of the day (morning evening, night)

I will then grow the bacteria and measure the growth of each before averaging it.

 

I was wondering if the growth is enough to determine the area with the most bacteria?

 

all other suggestions/changes will be appreciated!

 

thanks

[CharonY]

If you got access to a microscope I would just do some cell counting. It is more direct and you have less cultivation issues (also reduces risk to cultivating nasties). However the sample collection tends to be uneven, so that the overall accuracy may be rather low.

[ewmon]

CharonY, does running "neutralization assays" seem realistic here? In terms of using common products, the assays could use an antibacterial product that uses Triclosan. The assay would need some development. Probably the idea/effort alone, regardless of the results, would impress greatly.

 

XD happiness..., what education level does this involve?