(Medical Xpress) Dentists warn us that too many sweets can cause cavities. In fact, it’s not candy, but bacteria on the tooth surface that cause tooth decay. If you reduce the amount of cavity-causing bacteria, the number of cavities should decrease. Christine Lang of the Berlin biotech firm ORGANOBALANCE and her colleagues have developed a candy that can do this. This candy contains dead bacteria that bind to the bacteria most likely to cause cavities. Subjects who ate the candy had reduced levels of “bad” bacteria in their mouths. The research appears in Probiotics and Antimicrobial Proteins.
After you eat, bacteria attached to the surface of your teeth release acid. Slowly, this acid dissolves your tooth enamel. As the enamel wears down, cavities can develop. The strain of bacteria most likely to cause cavities is mutansstreptococci. When you chew, you shed mutans streptococci into your saliva. Swallowing or spitting removes some of the bacteria from your mouth after you finish chewing. The remaining bacteria reattach themselves to your teeth.
After you eat, bacteria attached to the surface of your teeth release acid. Slowly, this acid dissolves your tooth enamel. As the enamel wears down, cavities can develop. The strain of bacteria most likely to cause cavities is mutansstreptococci. When you chew, you shed mutans streptococci into your saliva. Swallowing or spitting removes some of the bacteria from your mouth after you finish chewing. The remaining bacteria reattach themselves to your teeth.