Chinese Scientists Are Developing A Vaccine Against Cavities (nature.com)

A vaccine against tooth decay "is urgently needed" writes Nature -- and a team of Chinese scientists is getting close. hackingbear writes: Scientists at Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences developed low side effects and high protective efficiency using flagellin-rPAc fusion protein KFD2-rPAc, a promising vaccine candidate. In rat challenge models, KFD2-rPAc induces a robust rPAc-specific IgA response, and confers efficient prophylactic and therapeutic efficiency as does KF-rPAc, while the flagellin-specific inflammatory antibody responses are highly reduced.

Comments

Not just cavities

[brianerst]

If this actually kills off the bacteria causing cavities, it may also get rid of the plaque biofilms that they produce. This could be a very big deal - those biofilm plaques are also a reason for arterial plaques that cause heart disease.

Re:Not just cavities

[phantomfive]

Here's a summary of the research. A connection has been found between gum disease and heart disease.

Dentists are quick to assume that the mouth bacteria causes heart disease, but I've never seen that hypothesis tested anywhere. It seems more reasonable to me that when a person has heart disease, their body is weakened in general, and the body's resistance to gum disease is weakened as well.

Against cavities: Cut the sweet stuff

[mha]

A personal anecdote - but one approved and confirmed as general dentist wisdom by a friend of mine who is a dentist.

I always had problems with cavities, since my youth there never was a dentist visit where they didn't drill. About 7 years ago I drastically cut back on sugar, not because of teeth but because of other issues (now resolved).

I used to be a typical German: I could not live without a bakery. I ate loads of bread, pasta, pizza (but actually good one) - and between meals not infrequently cookies or a piece of cake. I also ate quite a lot of chocolate and other sweets, always desert. LOTS and lots of fruit (self-made fruit salad!)

Before I give you the wrong idea that I may have to mention I never had a weight issue, I was very active too..Not that you think what I'm saying only applies to obese people and so what I'm writing does not apply to others. I could easily - and I mean easily - run a half marathon (never tried more than that), just for fun.

Anyway, my health issues forced me to experiment. To cut the story short and leave out all the experiments and everything in between, without consulting any book or "nutritionist", only learning to read and listen to what my own body was telling me, I ended up eating very few "carbs" (not the chemical meaning of the word but the kinds of foods). I almost never buy anything from the bakery, except for (very good!) white bread, which lasts two weeks or so (or even more). NO chocolate, no cake, no cookies. Very few fruits, and even less of the sweet kinds of fruits. Almost never bread, almost never pasta, almost never potatoes. NO SUGAR. Again, no extremes: I'm sure one or the other salad dressing I got when I didn't eat at home had sugar. I would not even mind eating a piece of cake now and then - if only I had any appetite for that stuff. I never do, not any more.

I don't have to force myself to any of it, it comes naturally now!

On the other hand, I eat a lot less meat than in the past too. Again not because of some "nutrition advice" that I follow, I really can't!

But I could never eat something as extreme as an Atkins diet. I _do_ need carbs (that's why the white bread), just very little. I could also never go without meat, go full vegetarian. No extremes (unless "No sweets" is something you consider extreme).

What I eat a lot more of: Fat and vegetables. Fat in the form of olive oil, nuts (lots! - what is the English word for "Nussmus"??? Darn!), cream. Quite abit of dairy, but zero milk, all in the form of cheese and other kinds of milk that went through bacterial processing.

MY TEETH:

I have suddenly had ZERO problems with my teeth for years! A complete change! And I don't even need to brush my teeth. Okay, for breath :-) Not a single cavity anywhere. My dentist friend just said "Of course, if you leave out the sugar that's to be expected."

try xylitol instead

[swell]

Xylitol sweetener kills h pylori, a bacteria that causes tooth decay and gastric ulcers. This has been known for a long time. Ask your toothpaste maker why they don't sweeten the product with xylitol. Note also that xylitol does not cause a big jump in blood glucose & insulin like many sweeteners. Taste is OK, better than stevia. And to top it off, you don't have to pay the premium price for a patented product.

Research has been happening for some time

[martinX]

I talked to a group working on a vaccine for dental caries about 15 years ago. When I asked who they were targeting, the reply was head and neck cancer patients. When you get cancer in this area and go in for radiotherapy, the salivary glands are often unintended targets of the radiation and die. This, in turn, leads to massive dental caries problems in the patients, so much so that they are sometimes advised to have their teeth pulled before therapy begins.

With the rise of highly targeted multi-beam radiotherapy, I'm not sure if the problem is still as bad as it was though. Don't smoke.