In the future, a virus will be able to prevent cavities. Three years ago, Irish scientists from the University College Cork discovered a virus capable of attacking Streptococcus mutans. This bacterium is a course of dental cavities, therefore stopping it would prevent cavities from forming.
The virus has the tongue-twisting name APCM01 and is naturally present in saliva. The Irish scientist Colin Hill discovered the virus in saliva and discovered that it has a special usage; it attacked Streptococus mutans and nothing else. Therefore, Colin Hill got the idea that a high concentration of APCM01 could kill S. mutans in the teeth. Even though the concentrated version of the virus has only been used in laboratories, the results have been promising.
A few hours after the virus makes contact with the bacteria, the bacteria stop growing, because the virus breaks down their cell membranes. And after 48 hours, the virus had culled enough of the bacteria that only 0,001 percent of the bacteria remained.
Colin Hill is now considering whether it would be possible to concentrate the enzymes the virus produces and use it in toothpaste. The enzyme-rich toothpaste would reduce the risk of cavities significantly.
Why do we get cavities?
There is and always will be bacteria in the mouth and on the teeth, and by themselves they are not harmful. However, if the bacteria aren’t removed regularly, they will develop a coating on the teeth called plaque. When we eat, the bacteria feed off of some of the sugar we consume, which is why eating sugar can increase the risk of cavities.
Some of the bacteria secrete an acid, when they absorb the sugar. As long as the concentration of acid is low, it is simply washed away with the saliva. However, if there are too many bacteria present in the plaque and we for example drink a soda, saliva will not be able to wash away all of the acid – and the acid will gradually dissolve the tooth’s minerals, which is the cause of cavities. The APCM01 virus could however reduce the concentration of bacteria to a manageable level.
The dentists have another solution in the works
However, if you already have cavities, the dentists have another solution in the works. At Sichuan University in China, the dentist Zuedong Zhoub has created a mineral capable of filling the cavities and, at the same time, combat the bacteria. A combination of different nanoparticles, each with their own function, will be used as a filling material in the future.
The new material also has the advantage that enamel can be produced, as acid breaks it down. So far, the nanoparticles have only been tested in the laboratory, but the results are promising. In a collaborative study between the University of Maryland and Zuedong Zhoub, they allowed S. mutans to grow on the material. The experiment showed that the filling material significantly reduced the bacteria’s production of acid – Therefore, the bacteria, growing on the filling material, produced plaque at one tenth the normal speed.
For now, we must make do with the toothbrush, but in the future there will many new tools we can employ to prevent cavities.
