Even with fluoride treatment and better cavity fillings a large number of people still get dental caries. Since we do not seem to be interested in giving up our consumption of sucrose it looks like dental caries will continue to plague us.
However, recently some scientists from a company called Oragenics have gained approval to use a novel approach to hopefully eliminate Streptococcus mutans from the surface of our teeth and eliminate the bacterial cause of dental caries. These researchers have developed a Streptococcus mutans strain that does NOT produce acid when breaking down sucrose. Without the acid the calcium is not leeched from the bone. To eliminate the Streptococcus mutans already in a person's mouth these investigators also placed a gene in this special strain of the bacteria that will produce a substance called Mutacin 1140.
Mutacin 1140 is a peptide (small protein) antibiotic that can kill many gram positive bacteria like Streptococcus mutans . Mutacin 1140 will not kill the strain of Streptococcus mutans that makes the antibiotic but it will kill other strains of Streptococcus mutans growing on the teeth. These researchers hope that the new Streptococcus mutans without the ability to make acid will replace the Streptococcus mutans that make acid and maybe even eliminate dental caries.
This strain of Streptococcus mutans worked well in a rat model of dental caries and these researchers are working now to see if it will work in humans. Only time will tell. Until then I encourage you to continue to brush your teeth at least twice a day, see your dentist twice a year to thoroughly clean your teeth and limit your sweets.
For more information you can go to the following websites:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr5014a1.htm
http://www.dent.ucla.edu/ce/caries/
http://www.oragenics.com/product_mutacin.php
Take Care and Think Microbiologically! For more microbiology articles
