I am doing an experiment for my honors micro class, where i have someone chewing big red gum, someone else is chewing a non cinnamon flavored gum, and someone is not chewing any gum. i will be doing an oral swab and making plates for each one, as well as a gram stained slide for each one, in order to determine if chewing cinnamon flavored gum reduces the numbers of bacteria in your mouth. i was just wondering if there's a way to do a count that didn't involve dilution. i don't technically have to have an exact count, but i'm assuming that i would be able to get an idea by using the slide to count. i just don't know. i know that if i put it in the plate, it's going to grow and i won't get an accurate idea of how much is in there. should ii do the slide based off of a direct swab, or should i do the slide based off of what is grown in the plate? any help would be greatly appreciated. my professor didn't really want to do it with me, so i am working with another professor supervising me, but i'm just not sure about what i would be able to do as far as counting goes. thank you so much,

-jess