Aim: To enumerate the Streptococcus (S.) mutans count in children with and without early childhood caries (ECC) by three methods, i.e., laboratory S. mutans culture, oratest and saliva check mutans kit test, and correlate them with each other. Materials and methods: The study was designed as a randomized, double-blind controlled trial and was carried out in children under 71 months of age. About 10 children without caries and 10 with a DEFT score of equal to or more than 5 were selected and subjected to all three tests, i.e., Global Corporation (GC) Saliva Check Mutans kit test, oratest and the laboratory culture of S. mutans individually. Results: Both the groups were subjected to Chi-square test and Pearson's correlation analysis. All the tests performed showed statistically significant results (p < 0.05). In group I, i.e., the test group, the mean DEFT score was 7 ± 1.054. The mean S. mutans laboratory count was found to be 6.39 × 10⁵ CFU. In group II, where the DEFT score was zero, the mean S. mutans count was 1.68 × 10⁴ CFU. The mean time taken by Oratest to test positive was 40.50 ± 13.632 minutes in the test group, whereas in the control group, the mean oratest time taken was 279 ± 34.545 minutes. The sensitivity of GC saliva check test was 80% and the specificity was 100% with a Youden's index of 0.8. Conclusion: All the tests correlated well with the DEFT scores of all subjects, as well as with each other. The choice of the test is dependent upon the availability, cost-effectiveness, time constraints, and the requirement of the individual patient. Clinical significance: This study can serve as potent educational and motivational tool for patients in assessing their oral hygiene status with help of S. mutans count evaluation using the different tests. Hence, these S. mutans can be used as alarming biomarkers for prevention and treatment urgency.