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The typical human mouth contains a writhing orgy of bacteria. Most of these microscopic organisms are benign, and some are even beneficial, but one particular variety is a conspicuous troublemaker: Streptococcus mutans. These ubiquitous bacteria thrive on sugars in the mouth, which they consume while excreting lactic acid. This acid is responsible for the great majority of tooth decay in humankind because it erodes the enamel and dentin of the teeth.
A Florida-based company called Oragenics may have found a way to rid our mouths of these acid-excreting organisms for good. This would make cavities a thing of the past, and put no small number of dentists out of business. But despite the obvious benefits, there is potential for disaster.
Oragenics’ approach to stopping tooth decay is straightforward: they have used recombinant DNA technology to produce a new variety of S. mutans which does not excrete lactic acid. Instead, it excretes tiny amounts of an agent called Mutacin 1140 which is deadly to other strains of S. mutans, giving these new bacteria an edge over the existing organisms. Once the modified bacteria get a toehold in the mouth, the existing population of S. mutans will be methodically wiped out, leaving the non-acid-producing bacteria in its place. In the absence of acid-producing bacteria, the teeth have little to fear. Oragenics calls this new treatment Replacement Therapy.
If approved as a treatment, a single visit to the dentist would be all that is necessary. The patient’s teeth would be swabbed with the modified bacteria for five minutes, allowing it to begin its work. Over the following months, the entire population of the unmodified S. mutans in the mouth would be completely supplanted. The new organisms’ ability to muscle out the old riffraff should theoretically allow the new bacteria to reside indefinitely once it is established in the mouth— so it is possible that a single treatment will last for an individual’s lifetime.
On the surface it seems like an elegant solution, but clearly there is the potential to upset delicate systems in nature, resulting in possible larger-scale side effects. If S. mutans is present in the ecosystem outside of mouths, there is a chance that the artificial strains might be accidentally introduced into those systems, possibly destroying the natural strains. The acidity in those environments might then be drastically reduced, resulting in unpredictable and irreversible changes. This is a risk shared with many genetically modified organisms.
After extensive laboratory testing and animal trials with no observed side-effects, Oragenics has begun some early human trials. The first strains tested on humans have been deliberately crippled to require a daily “feeding” of a particular amino acid in order to survive. Using this method, researchers are confident that any of the bacteria which escape into the wild will not long survive. Also, the first people to be infected with the improved strain are denture wearers, which allows the subjects to remove their teeth at any time in case of trouble. The spouses of the subjects are also cooperating with the study, so researchers can reinforce their confidence that the bacteria is not horizontally transmissible, such as through kissing.
There is no doubt that eliminating cavities from humankind would improve our quality of life. But in a complex system such as the environment it is impossible to predict what will happen when a tiny segment of the ecosystem is replaced. Hopefully further research will provide a reliable ability to determine whether such concerns are valid, or whether they are merely the offspring of technology-stifling fear of the new and unfamiliar.
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Where else do these bacteria live? Seems like if they just eat sugar, then there aren’t many places they can live besides mouths. Are there any animals’ mouths that need to be acidic? Or do these bacteria actually live in other places like ponds and stuff?
If they only live in animals’ mouths, I don’t see why this is necessarily a bad idea. Maybe I’m mistaken?
First post! Woohoo!
This sounds like a good idea provided it dosnt upset anything else. Personally im a supporter of most things GM but when theyre organisms im a bit unsure. Oh well we’re all going to be taken over by ants soon, so no harm done
Wait just a cotton-picking second…wouldn’t we also be paving the way for a resistant strain to evolve that could potentially be even more dangerous? I thought the whole idea of being VERY CAREFUL with all this genetic engineering is that we might bite off more than we can chew? Sorry, about the mixing of metaphors…..
I wonder if Colgate will allow this to surface, Heck, I wonder if the “INDUSTRY” of Dental Hygene products will work?
Edit, ….of Dental Hygene products will squash it? (I was spacing, sorry.)
Yes, this has “conspiracy theory” written all over it. I have wondered why someone hasn’t already come up with a product like this before. Imagine the multi-millions that the dental industry would lose if this would be available to the public. If this really does work, hopefully the creator would rather give it away for the good of mankind than to let their company sell it to some big dental company…which buries it for as long as possible.
I like this, but I wonder what this will do to the sewers.
We spit in the sink, and some of these bacteria will inevitably enter the sewers.
There is a delicate balance of the various bacteria that eat stuff in the sewers, and these will exterminate some of that balance.
More testing is needed before this can be deemed safe.
The first strains tested on humans have been deliberately crippled to require a daily “feeding” of a particular amino acid in order to survive. Using this method, researchers are confident that any of the bacteria which escape into the wild will not long survive..
It didn’t work in Jurassic Park, why would it work here? ;-) But seriously, I doubt this would cripple the dental industry. Cavities are just one of myriad oral problems that need attending to.
How does the bacteria get into our mouths in the first place? It must be living somewhere in the outside environment or be horizontally transmissible between people.
On the other hand, the article suggests that the toxin is specific to mutans, so the resistance, when it does spread, doesn’t really do anything except make the treatment not work. There must be some competitive advantage to being able to utilize sugar and turning it into lactic acid, so when the wild type obtains the resistance eventually, it would probably outcompete the lab produced strain.
Like penicillin, I predict that this will be a temporary cure. Still, a temporary cure is better than ineffective daily treatments.
Marius said: “It didn’t work in Jurassic Park, why would it work here? ;-) But seriously, I doubt this would cripple the dental industry. Cavities are just one of myriad oral problems that need attending to.”
True. I seem to recall people paying a lot more for braces than fillings.
allaunjsilverfox said: “I wonder if Colgate will allow this to surface, Heck, I wonder if the “INDUSTRY” of Dental Hygene products will work?”
Not if Colgate can somehow put this bacteria in the toothpaste along with the needed amino acid to keep the little buggers alive.
Funny, I had heard of something years ago that would eat tooth decay and actually replace it with similar material but that seemed to disappear before any clinical trials started. A friend had heard of a coating that was put on teeth that prevented cavities (not pit & fissure sealants) and developed in New York but also didn’t make it to market. Strange if true and hopefully this doesn’t follow that same deadend path.
As far as putting a dentist out of business, not likely. They still have to clean, straighten, fix broken teeth and deal with gum receding amongst other things including the application of this stuff. It would definitely cut into their business though.
Toothpaste manufacturers would have no worries as I am sure people would still clean their teeth. Even people with false teeth still brush them as if they were the originals.
One last piece of advice by a very wise man ………. Be true to your teeth and they won’t be false to you! (these words of wisdom brought to by Huggy Bear of the original Starsky & Hutch TV series back in the mid 70’s).
The new variety of S. mutans which does not excrete lactic acid will grow upto 6 foot when released in the wild offcourse.
Arcangel said: “
As far as putting a dentist out of business, not likely. They still have to clean, straighten, fix broken teeth and deal with gum receding amongst other things including the application of this stuff. It would definitely cut into their business though.
“
I agree. Dentists actually hate cavities; my Mother was a Dental Technician and the real money is NOT in cavities. Also, aren’t Dentists at the top of jobs which have the most suicides? Maybe all those people not listening to brush and floss and then they have to take care of the cavities gets to them.
Oh! The brits of the world are going to be sooooo happy!!!
I was reading somewhere that there is a substance in raisins that kill these nasty little bugs, so that even the raisins’ sugar content doesn’t harm our teeth. These modified bacteria may be a “neat” idea, but things often go horribly wrong when we tamper with things that we shouldn’t.
JustAnotherName said: “Also, aren’t Dentists at the top of jobs which have the most suicides?”
I believe the top spot is reserved for Air Traffic Controllers. On topic, however, as interesting as the idea is, the best solution is to continue to strengthen the teeth through other means. Drink your milk, fluoride in water, or laminate them in plastic… I don’t care. It drives me crazy that these insanely complicated and potentially disasterous “advancements” are hailed as genious when they’re actually a tremendous waste of time that could be better spent on a simpler and safer solution.
I don’t know, this seems like a pretty darned simple solution to me. Take the standard mouth bacteria, modify it so that it doesn’t produce lactic acid, and then arm it so it can take out it’s unmodified bretheren. One treatment works for life. That seems almost like the perfect solution, actually (provided it is shown to be safe in the “wild”).
Nikolaus: you took the words right out of my mouth…pretty interesting nonetheless. :-)
In the phrase “things often go horribly wrong when we tamper with things that we shouldn’t.”, how do you define things that we shouldn’t tamper with? Nothing comes with a label that says “don’t tamper with this” unless a person made it in the first place. The only penalties are when someone doesn’t test properly and thoroughly what they are doing and implements it incorrectly (e.g. thalidomide). The rule people should be following is “do things properly, if you are going to do it sloppily or incorrectly don’t do it at all.”
If this bacteria mutates (everything is contunually in the process of mutating… it’s called evolution. It just takes so long for changes to occur that it doesn’t usually get noticed in the span of a human lifetime.) I think the mutation that will gain our notice will be a resistance to the Mutacin 1140, which would mean that we could end up with bacteria in our mouths that convert sugars into lactic acid (we can’t allow that to happen!). But on a smaller scale than today because the non-lactic acid bacteria will be established and in the majority in the patient’s mouth – thus using most of the sugar and denying food in large quantities to the mutated bacteria.
I do think that some research needs to be done into the bacteria in the rest of the digestive tract, as if this affects those we could end up with digestion problems (bacteria do a good portion of the nutrient extraction work for us during digestion) that would induce some kind of malnutrition or vitamin deficiency, or even rampant flatulence. And, as noted in the article, if there is a precipitous drop in the Ph level in the body (a swing from acid to alkaline) it could cause problems as well… we might have to eat more vitamin C (ascorbic acid). Now, wouldn’t that be bad?
donlaudanny said: “On the other hand, the article suggests that the toxin is specific to mutans, so the resistance, when it does spread, doesn’t really do anything except make the treatment not work. *There must be some competitive advantage to being able to utilize sugar and turning it into lactic acid*, so when the wild type obtains the resistance eventually, it would probably outcompete the lab produced strain.”
Um, the breakdown of sugars (glucose) with the metabolic waste of lactic acid is known as anaerobic respiration. The advantage there is that oxygen is not required to be present in the environment of the anaerobic organism. In the deepest darkest corners of our mouths, and other animals’ mouths, such as way up in our gums next to our teeth roots, there is probably a noted lack of oxygen. I can’t be sure about that as I have personally never been there :P But I suspect it isn’t the most welcoming of places for us aerobic organisms ;) We need oxygen. But S. mutans obviously doesn’t. That would be the advantage.
Nikolaus said: “Where else do these bacteria live? Seems like if they just eat sugar, then there aren’t many places they can live besides mouths. Are there any animals’ mouths that need to be acidic? Or do these bacteria actually live in other places like ponds and stuff?”
Sugar is everywhere. All life as we know it depends on glucose, the basic sugar “unit” I guess you could call it. As far as I know, yes, all animals’ mouths (as far as I know here) need to be acidic to begin the digestive process. Saliva is acidic. However, most of the digestion that happens in our mouths is mechanical rather than chemical, so perhaps a pH balanced mouth wouldn’t be catastrophic, I don’t know.
I don’t see why S. mutans couldn’t live in ponds and stuff… heck, we spit in ponds, deer probably backwash, maybe even fish have little S. mutans colonies in their mouths. There’s glucose in pond water, I guarantee it.
I’m guessing that this Mutacin 1140 stuff could probably kill bacteria other than just S. mutans, and that could be a big problem as well.
Nonetheless, it’s really cool.
Saliva is acidic. However, most of the digestion that happens in our mouths is mechanical rather than chemical, so perhaps a pH balanced mouth wouldn’t be catastrophic, I don’t know.
i reckon it wouldn’t based on what’s next on the pathway (excluding the esophagus)… the stomach is quite acidic (pH around 2); i agree the mouth pH is probably not that significant in the grand scheme of digestion.
in terms of all the other issues involving this mutant strain, seems like a pretty brilliant idea, but as stated the grander effects should definitely be analyzed–how specific is the toxin it produces? S. mutans might not be that prevalent in nature, but close relatives succeptible to mutacin 1140 might be.
I remember seeing this on BBC’s much missed series Tomorrow’s World many years back. I’ve been wondering what became of the product for ages! It was administered via chewing gum in a limited human trial and worked perfectly. However it may be a similar product that worked differently because there was no mention of a toxin. Instead the principle was you kill off all the bacteria via standard methods such as mouthwash, then replace it with a harmless bacteria. This would eat up all the sugars in our mouth and inhibit the growth of more harmful bacteria. I would have thought this would have been a much safer solution ecologically…
wwweeeewwwww! Gotta go brush my teeth!
With regards to suicide by profession, it would appear that there is little correlation between career and tendency to suicide. And if you don’t believe it from the American Psychological Association, then The Straight Dope also agrees with that position.
…for some, the problem is not the cavities in their mouth…the bigger problem is the cavity between their ears!
Screw the environment! I’ll take a swab of that anytime!
Looks like (for now at least) a mouthwash once a week with Hydrogen Peroxide should suffice…and the daily Listerine of course… ;-)
This is soooo going to backfire but I hope I can get a treatment before the side effects become known.
Navillus said: “First post! Woohoo!…”
So, by “first” did you mean “not first”? :-)
mikestu said: “Yes, this has “conspiracy theory” written all over it. I have wondered why someone hasn’t already come up with a product like this before. Imagine the multi-millions that the dental industry would lose if this would be available to the public. If this really does work, hopefully the creator would rather give it away for the good of mankind than to let their company sell it to some big dental company…which buries it for as long as possible.”
You’d better believe that, if this works, the international corporate conglomerates will send it the way of the dodo –and the electric car…
I know the lack of cavities would be great for Hospital ER depts. around the globe… We get 2 or 3 every night that waste our time… most of them are in it for the drugs though.
About 15-20 years ago, there was a big splash about a vaccine that had been developed to prevent cavities. It worked by inducing the immune system to produce antibodies to s. mutans in the saliva. The vaccine was based on research about why some people (like me) got cavities by the dozens as a kid while others (my obnoxious cousin who never brushed his teeth) never got a single one. The vaccine worked but a small percent of the subjects in the later test had some heart irregularities. Never heard from again.
Well, if it’s a choice between cavities or a working heart, I can see why that particular approach wasn’t pursued…
How about we just get all our adult teeth removed, and make all food mashed up? That should work. mmmm, steak milkshake…
Drakvil: LMAO…I was thinking the same thing.
gorgeousplanet: I’d still like to bite an intruder if the day comes that I run out of ammo…which hopefully will never happen, but you never know…
I don’t give a shit about environmental theories because there is NO proof that this would have any effect. It’s not like over fishing the seas or anything. I have had cronic cavities my entire life. When I was 6 years old I had to have 12 cavities done at once. I am now 27 and I have a mouth full of cavities and because of all the drilling and root canal bullshit all my life I have developed very bad anxiety with dentists. This would increase my quality of life more than I can ever express to any of you in text over the internet. I pray for something like this every day so my damn cavities will stop getting worse and ruining my life.
Why do cavities ruin your life? Cavities turn into root canals. Root canals are temporary – eventually they go bad then you either need bridges or implants or a gap. I already have one gap next to my bottom canine (the mini molar) and two adult molars missing. I now am getting small cavities between my front teeth and it is making me paranoid as fuck to smile. It makes you self concious, ruins your self-image and makes you hate your life. Seriously. My one canine is a fake crown and that bugs me enough. To top it off, the tooth under the crown is rotting and they’re telling me the crown is going to last less time now. I’m fucked.
Also, all of the dentists I’ve seen have warned me that they have found a DIRECT link to heart disease and dental work. The bacteria that infests your mouth also infests your heart. Even if you have very few cavities, them drilling or even doing cleanings introduces the bacteria into your blood stream. I really believe that many of us will see a severe increase in heart disease from the dental world we live in now where we get regular cleanings and fillings and everything else.
PLEASE for the love of god release this. It would improve so many lives!
I don’t think that dentists should be too worried. After all, even if it does get through the FDA or whatever organization handles these sorts of things, I’m sure that s. mutans isn’t responsible for ALL cavities. There is still the matter of saliva being acidic, not to mention orange juice, lemonade, most sodas, etc.. So no way, cavities will still pop up, and dentists will surely keep their hands full with applications of braces, surgery in the mouth, wisdom teeth removal… the list goes on. I however, have had my frustrations with cavities, and would love for something like this treatment to come out, given that it is guaranteed against any harmful side affects to our bodies or elsewhere.
yeah im pretty sure dentists will be fine. People will still need to go every few months to the dentists just like they do now. there’s loads of other problems with teeth dentists have to deal with like if someone fell and cracked their tooth the dentist would have to sort it out(that wouldnt be often but that’s just one of many things dentists have to deal with).
I don’t really think the risk levels involved is really worth it. You would still have to brush, this bacteria isn’t going to be cleaning your teeth.
Hey,
Does this mean that kissing is going to spread this new killer bacteria?? and so only one person can get the treatment done and the rest can borrow?? :)
It can be a new excuse to request a kiss :)
Not gonna work. Some dimwit would spit and destroy the ecosystem. lol.
Since the current round of testing is attempting to reinforce the idea that the bacteria isn’t “horizontally transmissible” (through kissing), I guess if you wanted to get some from a friend you would have to exchange a bit more than saliva. I can’t imagine a better mood killer than rubbing teeth together with that special someone.
Sounds like more of a good thing than a bad.
s. mutans is not essential to human health. Not everyone has it. I never had cavities until I had a girlfriend who had a lot. a year later, I had twenty.
If there is a secret chemical that only kills s. mutans, then the simple solution is to put that chemical into toothpaste or mouthwash or chewing gum. There doesn’t seem to be a need to release the mutant s. mutans.
1c3d0g says:
Looks like (for now at least) a mouthwash once a week with Hydrogen Peroxide should suffice…and the daily Listerine of course… ;-)
Don’t use Hydrogen Peroxide or iodine or mercurichrome. These things cause damage to healthy tissues.
Dr.Grimgravy said: “I know the lack of cavities would be great for Hospital ER depts. around the globe… We get 2 or 3 every night that waste our time… most of them are in it for the drugs though.”
I say the Dr. is in the wrong business. Almost everyone who comes to an ER is there as the result of poor choices. If that is a waste of the Dr.’s time, he should let some more sympathetic person have his job… Of course they want pain-killers – they’re in pain!
I have heard about this back in ’97
See, people with Heart Murmurs fear cavaties because they can cause blood infections and that can cause deteriation of the heart and vavles… like me…
I’m one of those people that brushes there teeth and stil lget cavaties.
but seriously, if the Mutacin 1140 is crippled and needs an activator to work, why not keep it like that so people have to activate this stuff so it doesnt live forever and doesn’t act as a threat to the ecosystem?
or give it a life span of a few months or weeks so you have to manually refresh the Mutacin 1140, that way it doesn’t survive if it escapes the mouth in some way ?
This won’t work that well, we’ll still have plenty of cavitites. Acid foods and drinks cause just as much or more cavitites than the acid from Bacteria. Pepsi has a ph of 2.49, the threshold pH for enamel dissolution is 5.5. I”ve gotten way more cavities from eating acidic foods, it was meats without drinking any water. After I started drinking a swallow of water after a couple bites the cavities went away.
Your teeth are always deminerlizing and reminerlizing so minor cavitites can heal perfectly. Avoid flouride, it’s toxic, it weakens teeth and bones and is stored in the brain. Plus regular toothpastes coat your teeth and prevent them from reminerlizing as well. If they are clean and you get enough nutrients they will reminerlize. Most people don’t get enough magnesium which is essential for healthy bones and teeth.
Incase you didn’t understand. I drink a little water when I eat meats now, you know to rense my teeth to keep my mouth from getting to acidic while eating meat.
I think Hydrogen Peroxide is an awesome mouthwash. I use it al l the time, it’s a great mouthwash, kills germs, keeps my breath fresh and teeth white. It not only kills germs it also whitens your teeth and sorta cleans them to since it has like scrubbing bubbles, sorta. Just make sure you dilute it half and half with water or it can be too strong and make little bubble blisters in your gums, it’s weird how it does that. I know oxygen is seperating from the hydrogen but I don’t see how it seems to get under your gum tissue and blow a tiny bubble blister. I think Hydrogen peroxide scared my lips a little, when it was pure, but I never had any problems when I diluted it, I dilute half and half or a little more water than peroxide. Works great, I love it. It doesn’t leave a taste in your mouth for hours like listerine or something, plust it works way better. Listerine would make my inside mouth peel and sore.
the bacteria also secrete ethanol instead of lactic acid…possibly oragenics has a process to convert plant material into a biofuel.
necros said: “I don’t give a shit about environmental theories because there is NO proof that this would have any effect. It’s not like over fishing the seas or anything. I have had cronic cavities my entire life. When I was 6 years old I had to have 12 cavities done at once. I am now 27 and I have a mouth full of cavities and because of all the drilling and root canal bullshit all my life I have developed very bad anxiety with dentists. This would increase my quality of life more than I can ever express to any of you in text over the internet. I pray for something like this every day so my damn cavities will stop getting worse and ruining my life.
Why do cavities ruin your life? Cavities turn into root canals. Root canals are temporary – eventually they go bad then you either need bridges or implants or a gap. I already have one gap next to my bottom canine (the mini molar) and two adult molars missing. I now am getting small cavities between my front teeth and it is making me paranoid as fuck to smile. It makes you self concious, ruins your self-image and makes you hate your life. Seriously. My one canine is a fake crown and that bugs me enough. To top it off, the tooth under the crown is rotting and they’re telling me the crown is going to last less time now. I’m fucked.
Also, all of the dentists I’ve seen have warned me that they have found a DIRECT link to heart disease and dental work. The bacteria that infests your mouth also infests your heart. Even if you have very few cavities, them drilling or even doing cleanings introduces the bacteria into your blood stream. I really believe that many of us will see a severe increase in heart disease from the dental world we live in now where we get regular cleanings and fillings and everything else.
PLEASE for the love of god release this. It would improve so many lives!”
im sorry, but this is quite gross…
Love the picture!
I live in Hong Kong.
Some people here never clean their teeth .. not once.
Their teeth are twisted, discoloured, and have hard yellow build up on them. The smell in the (tightly-packed) train every morning is unbelievable. There’s actually a general background odour.
Get this stuff to China quickly, please!
my thaught is that if they can geneticly modify it to be dependant on somthing and it requires a daily dose, why not make it rely on something that can be put in a daily mouthwash. rinse your mouth once a day, the bacteria gets its food and your left smelling minty fresh.
I think Alan is secreatly working on a time traveling portal. Here, above the title it says “Written by Alan Bellows on June 10th, 2008 at 2:10 am”. Yet the first comment was posted: Nikolaus #1 June 16th, 2006 5:54 pm.
I think he has been to the future, seen clean teeth (Chinese too Old Man), and wrote the article.
Thanks Alan. Could you possibly go back in time to June 14, 1980 to a small pub in Morristown N.J. and tell the guy at the end of the bar (Drinking a nearly finished pint of Guinness) “Don’t do it. It won’t be worth it. And by the way, there’s a small company in Seattle called Starbucks. They sell coffee. Yes just coffee. Sell your car and buy their stock.”
Thanks Alan, I won’t forget the favor.
I would like to read more about how this new bacteria would wipe out ecosystems and alter life as we know it…not just from freedom from cavities, but on the larger scale.
Most people who dissent from using this kind of therapy have only a couple different views. One, GM bacteria may disrupt the delicate balance of the natural ecosystem, and two, just brush your teeth instead of using something more complicated. Crippling the bacteria with an amino acid deficiency seems like it would be the best route, and I’m sure better ideas will lead to this being a viable product. Second, I am an unfortunate individual who has particularly thin enamel. It really doesn’t matter how much I attend to my dental hygeine. I usually end up with cavities nonetheless. Don’t forget about those who are prone to cavities before you admonish them for being too lazy to take care of their teeth.
Use the deliberately crippled to require a daily “feeding” of a particular amino acid in order to survive, and put the feeding part in tomorrows toothpaste to keep the toothpaste industy alive
Is it just me, or does “Mutacin 1140” sound like a bad made-for-scifi-channel movie?
It actually remindes me of Ninja Turtles. I believe Donatello had a hand in developing this stuff, which, I might add, I hope in seeing soon @ dentist’s … I’m really really really really not a fan of drilling my head!
I just can’t get past the thought of sitting in that chair with my mouth open while millions of little bugs are being slathered on my teeth. Ugh.
I like Rush’s suggestion – there’s no reason why the geneticists should have to remove the amino acid dependency before releasing the product for public use, as long as the amino acids are easily administered at home. Putting the amino acid into toothpaste seems like the perfect solution. I mean, even if everyone had the new bacteria treatment, we’d still have to brush. Whether or not the bacteria produce acid, we’ll still need to remove nasty bits of food and gunk from our teeth. And if people really no longer want to brush, the amino acid could always be made available in the form of a rinse.
(Too many people touching on this subject to quote them all.)
I found their website even more interesting than the article, to my surprise. So interesting that I registered just to post this. It looks like they’ve put the dental research on hold, because they found that mutacin 1140 is indeed effective on a number of other bacteria ‘including those responsible for “strep throat”, common pneumonia, gastric ulcers, and listeriosis’.
Further, they found that ‘A particularly interesting feature of Mutacin 1140 (“MU1140”) is that none of the sensitive species of bacteria tested were able to acquire genetically stable resistance to purified Mutacin 1140 (“MU1140”).’ They’re now going into clinical trials with the stuff as an antibiotic, not just a dental treatment.
They specifically mention Staphylococcus aureus, which forms both MRSA and VRSA. These are the ‘superbugs’ that make the news periodically, as they’re resistant to antibiotics. MRSA is Methicillin (penicillin) Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is apparently often treated with vancomycin. VRSA, in turn, is Vancomycin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which is luckily still very rare.
If they’ve actually discovered something that can safely treat MRSA and VRSA, and the bacteria can’t adapt to it, it’s going to be right up there with penicillin in the history books. I’m not sold on it though, I’m not a doctor by any means, but I see references online to mutacin I, II, III, and 1140 going back to the late 80s, none of which seems to have caused a stir.
It’s kind of scary when you here about distant agencies working on this kind of work. The interesting thing I thought was the “horizontal transmission”… how exactly are the “confident” that it isn’t. A heavy bout of kissing action would surely see it transmitted from one person to another. What about coughing? Using someone else’s cutlery/cup/glass?
Amino-acid dependency seems like a good plan, and as has been suggested, put the amino-acid in toothpaste or a mouthwash.
As for not cleaning your teeth, that would be terrible, you’ll still get plaque build up, bits of food etc. Toothpaste companies have nothing to fear there.
Why would you care about the ecosystem when you can have cavity free teeth and say goodbuy to your dentist?
nice article.
http://zevuart.deviantart.com
This article reminded me about a well-known substance’s potential use discovered by Dr Koo and Dr. Bowen. This substance is made by bees from plants and used like plaster to patch holes in the hive and coat dead insects for later disposal. Called propolis, the bees make it by collecting various secretions from trees and plants, chew it up, and spit it into beeswax where the concoction is mixed and then used where needed.
They discovered that when this is applied to rat’s teeth it decreased the cavity rate by 60 percent give or take. Since rats and humans share common dental problems, what works with rats should work with human dental.
Propolis has been in use since around 300 BC and can be found in common products like creams, lotions, and believe it or not, chewing gum. Because of its capability to act as an anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant, and even anti-inflammatory, it has been discovered to aid in tissue regeneration. Thus it is used to help wounds heal faster, burn treatment, psoriasis, and even to control herpes. In Japan it is even used as a food additive.
http://www.apimab.com/en/parapharmacy/well-being.html
http://www.pbeeproducts.com/shop_propolis_chewing_gum.php
The two doctors have discovered that two substances in propolis made by Brazilian bees target both the bacteria that form cavities and specific enzymes that create plaque. This bee spit attacks glucosyltransferase enzymes, which create glucans. Glucans are the building blocks that create a biofile commonly called plaque. Like the scum on the inside walls of a summer time water trough, this stuff allows bacteria to get a foothold on your teeth. Where the mini-critters setup housekeeping and crap acid on your teeth. The longer the plaque is allowed to remain, the larger the colony of bacteria becomes. Before long your gum line looks like Manhattan Island, congested with New Yorkers polluting your mouth but with the trash collectors, cleaners, construction, and maintenance workers on strike. Ew
Even the one-liter of saliva that the average human produces per day is far inferior to neutralize the gooey mass. Since the most common pathogen in the human mouth is Streptococcus mutans, they produce the greatest amount of plaque. Since it seems only this critter produces the GTF enzyme in our bodies, propolis is an excellent choice as a dental cavity preventative.
The Don
Oh, as a side note, if you have an allergic reaction to bee stings chances are you may be allergic to propolis.
The Don.
I’m trying to work out how disturbed I am at the fact I found the line “horizontally transmissible” amusing due to the implied suggestion it contained (that it may be transferrable vertically between people … mouth to …. errrmmm … well, you know what I mean).
The fact no-one else picked up on it probably gives me my answer.
It sounds like it kills all kinds of bacteria and sets up house in your mouth permanently. How do we know that it doesn’t send a continuous stream of Mutacin 1140 down your throat that can set up shop in your gut killing bacteria that you need to live. You have a culture in there containing more cells than you have in your body. They make vitamins and do other important stuff that they’ve been doing since we were ape-people 4 million years ago. Mutacin 1140 wipes them out. You linger , get sick , and die.
No. Saliva has a pH of 7.4 so it’s alkaline. If you have acidic saliva you’re probably calcium deficient, if you have very acidic saliva, you probably have cancer. Go and see a doctor.
first post…long-time lurker..have finally caught-up and am patiently waiting for a new article…damn interesting Alan
Raisins are horrible for cavities. . they get stuck in the biting surfaces of teeth, there is sugar in them and they DO cause cavities. . .
about this, I’m sorry to say, it’s not cavities that cause bad breath, it’s periodontitis, which is responsible for more tooth loss than cavities. Sorry, the modified bacteria won’t be able to clear the air on your train.
And for all those people who say they brush their teeth, but still get cavities? Try flossing, it’s more important than brushing. Believe me, I’m a dental Hygienist, I see this every day!
Usually, stuff like this leads to resistant strains showing up, causing even more damage than before.
Rest assured that if there is a risk of putting dentists out of business, that it will never happen and we will never see it. It’s the American way.
JT
Hilarious. I laughed out loud, alone in my room. Thanks.
The proposed bacteria is a replacement. You already have millions of little bugs slathered on your teeth pooping out acid.
Oh, and
ATTENTION EVERYONE:
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I’m NOT a representative, just a very enthusiastic fan. If you love this site, you will love the show. I’ve listened to each episode at least twice just to have the information committed to memory. Go! Listen! http://www.radiolab.org
Again the people begin to cry out for more new stories to read, new stories to comment on and new platforms of logic to inform, convince and educate. With our intellectual bibs secured, we wait and gather at the banquet table of Damned Interesting, waiting to make a mees, waiting to clear the path…pretty much just waiting.
It is widely presumed that the only purpose in life for our esteemed authors is to produce articles fit for our comments and to praise each others big brains:); realizing there is a little life outside of cyberspace, especially during Summer, I propose we postpone the riot and lynchings for just awhile longer, awhile mind you…
Have a good day and dont be afraid to show off your bugs (meaning Smile)!!
Lol @ Sandra’s post (#25). Exactly what I was thinking!
Sigh almost a month since the last new article.
It’s too late for Shane MacGowan!
spam removed
I don’t have time to read 83 comments, so I apologize if my comment is similar to another before mine.
All I have to say is that ever since I went low-carb, besides weight-loss, better sleep, better energy, no hypoglycemia, etc, I have noticed that my mouth health has improved dramatically. Previously sore areas on my teeth (where the gums had been damaged and receded) which I could barely even touch, I can now tap at with my nail and not feel a thing. Minor pains have vanished and my teeth always feel smooth with no scummy build up.
So, that’s been my experience. Why go all high-tech when sometimes a back to basics approach makes more sense?
For some time now, I have been using cyanopolyacrylics (superglue) for tooth repair. It has some challenging elements, particularly since my eyesight is failing due to cataracts. There are some fumes involved for perhaps 15 minutes after application.
It is prudent for anyone trying this to really pay attention to the details of what they are doing, particularly to avoid inhalation of the fumes, and in using even small amounts of the roughly 96% alcohol, (the percentage varies with the humidity) that I use as a drying agent.. This is not a dilute solvent like rubbing alcohol.
For preparation, I have been using this pure laboratory alcohol and 3% H2O2 on cotton swab sticks. I do very little work on the lower jaw, because it is very difficult, working alone, to keep the work surfaces very dry. The position of the salivary ducts pose more of a problem with the bottom teeth.
But on the upper jaw, I have rebuilt a broken tooth, reinforced lateral grooves in the bottoms of my two top front teeth which have been worn away from heavy use, and most recently, I have done an imitation root canal. This is extremely challenging. But for me, it has delayed or eliminated the necessity of perhaps $6000+ in dental work, if I include the removal of a “permanent” two post bridge from my bottom jaw. I had been informed authoritatively that the bridge would have to be destroyed to get it off. I went home in some considerable pain, got the problem post-tooth under control, and eventually removed the bridge myself, without cutting or grinding it in any way. It is completely intact and ready for use at such time as I figure out a way of rebuilding the post tooth. I do not feel confident that I could replace it with a titanium post, even if my vision was not going south.
But it turns out that I did not need the bridge anywhere near as much as I thought I did. I just overuse my front teeth in chewing now.
I have gone into more detail on other sites. If you want to do this sort of thing yourself and can’t find the other sites, you probably ought not be trying to superglue your dental problems.
As for the company trying to produce the super anti-cavity organism… I have some reservations about it. Maybe when I am seeing a bit better, I’ll go into that a bit.
Anthropositor,
My attempt at dentistry did not go so well…
As I tried super glueing a small indention on a molar, my girlfriend ran up behind me and grabbed me… I bit down ejecting a massive ammount of glue, my mouth dried instantly. I swallowed to produce saliva, the tube of glue slid down to my stomach. I turned, wide eyed, after removing my fingers, to see my girlfriends smile evaporate for an instant; then her eys welled up she howled uncontrollably. Losing her balance she fell to the floor laughing as the glue solidified my teeth and most of my lips shut in the passing seconds. My main concern was not the pee spot in my girlfriends jammies or my mouth but the destination of the tube. If that leaks out it could really cause some problems, closed at both ends is not a good concept… After losing some skin on the side of my mouth, I am finding shakes and juice far more tastier than before. My girlfriend has regained her sences and has slipped me a little tongue whenever she walks by; just in the corner of my mouth. She chooses now to discuss things…
I hope everything comes out ok, I await patiently for the outcome, getting tense could make matters a closed issue.
Just kidding :)
Yes. Your humor illustrates well that repairing your teeth with superglue is an activity requiring careful attention, no interruptions, a preplanned order of procedure, and certainly not ever getting near your mouth with an entire tube of superglue. The glue is applied with a Q-tip or other suitable instrument, not squeezed directly on the tooth from the tube. And have a hair blower plugged in and ready to use to ventilate away the fumes. You might not even notice them. They are not strong, but I am not at all sure that they would be entirely harmless to the surface of the cornea or the nasal passages. Well worthwhile to wear some eye protection and blow the fumes away with the hair dryer.
Of the four teeth that I often maintain with superglue, three of the repairs are to reinforce the structural strength of the teeth, and the fourth is to reduce the traffic of bacteria, and to make a hostile environment for colony formation. I call this one an “imitation” root canal because the nerve has not been killed and removed. Things have remained pretty stable with that tooth so far.
The two upper front teeth, the bottom edge of which have been worn away, leaving what I have described as a lateral groove accross the bottom edge of the tooth. But the wear has been much greater on the back face of the tooth, eroding it somewhat more, higher up than the front face of the tooth. In the absence of opposed grinding teeth, most of my chewing involves these two front teeth, putting them at considerable risk for breakage. If either of those two front teeth were to fracture, it would either have to be capped, (which I have not yet learned to do for myself) or extracted, which would start a cascade of events, culminating in the fairly rapid loss of about sixteen teeth, and the necessity for dentures or the use of an electric blender to liquify my food.
Now, oddly enough, the opposing bottom teeth have not shown the same sort of wear. Nice because it is harder to work on the bottom teeth. I see no particular problem with doing the top edges of the bottom front teeth. With the upper teeth, I can cover the back face of the tooth with a coat of the superglue, or even a lamination of several coats, building some thickness. This lends considerable additional structural protection; further anchoring the superglue filling in the dry and sterilized fissure in the bottom edges of the two teeth. Sterilization is performed by swabbing with ordinary 3% H2O2, followed by a swab 0f 96% lab alcohol, not to be confused with denatured rubbing alcohol, which is a dilute solvent for household use. This is done right before the superglue is applied.
This is easy for the upper teeth. The alcohol stays where you want it, slurps up all surface moisture and quickly evaporates it off. But on the bottom teeth, some of the alchohol gets down to the gum, sets off an automatic sensory alarm, which is directly connected to the two salivary nozzles right below your two front bottom teeth. Now you are dealing with the tooth repair and a flood at the same time. Anyone not conversant with lab alcohol should just skip it and air dry the surfaces that the glue will contact as best you can. This is especially true if you are working on a bottom tooth.
And of course, you use a gel rather than the liquid superglue. The only new thing I did yesterday was to skip the heat blower. This slowed the curing of the glue. When I unthinkingly ate a chicken drumstick a couple of hours after the repair, I lost the back anchoring face of the glue. Might get a week or two out of the rest of the repair though.
Even with the occasional maintenance and repair, I am well satisfied with the results so far. Costs, if my time is not included, have been negligible. A few dollars as opposed to many thousands of dollars for the mainstream dental services that would probably have been employed.
hahaha hahaha
very nice creativity :)
Thank you A. I. T. Always pleased to give people a chuckle, even if I am not joking. Humor is incredibly important to the health of humankind.
It does you and your firm no service however, to plaster your weblink on multiple threads here, without benefit of a single original or creative thought that I have been able to discern. If an actual creative thought is not currently available to you or your associates or any of your extended families, perhaps contacting Alan Bellows and contributing some sort of useful widget which would make this blog more forumlike and easy to navigate from one end to the other…. perhaps a navigable index page… What do you think? A thin layer of such relish would certainly make the spam go down more easily.
Or better yet, some way for sight impaired people to come back and repair their typos instead of having them etched in the ether forever. Now I shall close with your brightest and most scintillating remark so far,
I got confused about where I left the above post. Wanted to say something about some Email spam I got and what I responded, not that the spammer will read or respond to what I said any more than this one will. It is cathartic though, to make some sort of response. Gets it off your chest.
The heat wave and the Central air going down at the same time were sort of taxing for me, not to mention the IRS and a battle in California that I shouldn’t need to be having. The result was a little vessel constriction somewhere around my main pump. So IRS and California are for a short time on the back burner while I get my head right and make sure that I keep the heart well supplied.
The exhaust fan on the central air has bit the bullet. Had another fan near the right size with the wrong pitch (too shallow) and wrong RPM (too high) klughed in place. The two defects cancel each other out. But also the fan is not weatherproof, and we had some heavy rain due, so I took a heavy wading pool I have for the dogs emtied it out and flipped it over on top of the central air housing which is about eight feet square, and the points of the square are bigger than the diameter of the pool, so there is no restriction at all of the exhaust air flow. The pool is a perfect umbrella unless we get some really high winds, in wnich case, I would just shut the system down.
Then my wife came home with some more trouble with a tooth she has been nursing for a while. She has gotten several extra years out of it using some of my little tricks, but nothing is forever. Seemed like the time to take it out.
So I got her all relaxed and non-apprehensive and popped it out. She was just great with it, She had watched me take Felice’s eye out a few years ago when he also had a fractured orbit and jaw, and that worked out pretty well. Felice recovered quite well, had a few more years of catting around, and croaked during the heat wave a week ago after having a good day, happy as can be. Miss him though.
I’ll probably sandpaper the base of that tooth after a while and superglue it back between the two adjacent teeth. Wouldn’t have considered that a possibility, the way my sight has been lately, but the monocle is just working pretty perfectly, except for the blotchines the cataract presents near the middle of the field of vision. The left side of the field, roughly between the seven and twelve o’clock position, is clear as crystal when I have the monocle in. I’m actually getting good use out of my HDTV again. It is so nice when things go well.
As far as the pump goes, I don’t generally like NSAIDS, but in this case, I immediately ate half an aspirin and took an NOS I had lying around. (Nitric oxide synthesizer combining arginine and alpha-ketogluterate.) I also have p;ent of little niacin beads, but in this very warm weather, I’m certainly in no mood for a possible niacin flush.
Don’t you try all this at home. If you have some pain radiating down the left arm, and don’t know the cause, just be on the safe side and go to the ER and let them soak you a grand or two if you don’t have a good feel for what you are doing. It would not be prudent. And definately don;t figure out how to make your own Coumadin out of rat poison. You could screw up the dosing in a variety of ways. You need a very sensitive scale, a good feel for math, and to make sure there is no strychnine complicating the situation. Wouldn’t be prudent. Actually a teensy bit of strychnine probably wouldn’t do much harm, but it could tend to make you a little jittery. And I would be a little uncomfortable with mixing it with warfarin. Could have some upsetting side effects. No sense scaring yourself when you are on the edge of a little heart attack.
Of course, The Emergency Room can be pretty damn dangerous as well…
Well, since the last comment, I have made three more new cataract monocles, each containing a new design change, improving acuity and the intensity of color perception. With the current one, I gave up perhaps a fifth of the gains in color intensity for a more panoramic view.
I have spoken a bit of these cataract monocles, designed for people with moderately advanced cataract problems, with the purpose of giving them an extra couple of useful years with their original lens, before surgical intervention is required. Eye surgery is certainly not an entirely stable field. New procedures, new lens designs are in the works. Some of them are exceedingly interesting. Being able to delay for a few years, could well give you options not available to you now. Anyone with moderate cataracts who would like to get a few more years of use out of the eyes before surgery might want to get in touch.
And curious ophthalmologists and optometrists, same goes for you. I have another device which would require your participation. Exams, measurements, follow-up visits, etc.
I’ve been thinking a bit more about this anticavity idea in the essay. I like the notion of doing it in such a fashion that it will be available for even poverty stricken citizens of the poorer nations. I think I would start by using a little licorice root extract on a q-tip and rubbed around the gum line. It certainly won’t hurt to try it in my superglue tooth repairs along with the H2O2 and COOH.