Urea can be continuously secreted out of the healthy individuals’saliva and gingival crevicular fluid, and it can be rapidly hydrolysed by ureases of oral bacteria. Ammonia generated by ureolysis can increase the pH value of oral environment, and this causes changes in dental plaque biofilms, thus reduces the initiation and progression of dental caries. As the significant impaction of ureolysis on the microbial pathogenesis in the oral cavity, the detection of urease activity might have a great help with the prevention and treatment of dental caries. This review will describe the detection methods of oral bacterial ureases reported in recent years from three different levels: Qualitative test, semi-quantitative test, and quantitative test respectively.
