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. 2012 Oct 16;7(10):e47722. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0047722

Figure 4. Decreasing species diversity was observed with increasing caries severity both within and among subjects.

Figure 4

Mean Shannon Diversity Indices with 95% confidence intervals are shown. The upper panel shows diversity within subjects for stage of caries at baseline. Diversity was modeled using a linear mixed effects model (SAS PROC MIXED), and is shown as a dashed line (estimate =  −0.26). Post hoc comparisons between sample types were significant, except between white spot and cavitated lesions. The lower panel shows species diversity comparisons among subjects by their baseline and longitudinal caries status for samples collected from noncarious enamel (the only type of sample available from all groups) using ANOVA. Significant post hoc comparisons are indicated by blue lines.