If tooth decay is caused by the byproducts of microorganisms in your mouth digesting sugar, why hasn’t someone figured out a way to kill off all those little buggers that make that film on your teeth? How do they get there in the first place? Do they live anywhere outside of people’s mouths? I’d think if you sterilized a mouth and made sure no more plaque germs got in afterwards, you wouldn’t have to worry about tooth decay anymore.
Though I don’t have a specific answer to your question, I can tell you that even if you could sterilize your mouth, I’d be willing to bet that:
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You’d end up killing off a lot of beneficial bacteria in addition to the nasty ones that cause tooth decay
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The bacteria would be reintroduced in a matter of minutes or even seconds since the mouth is an ‘open system’. You’d get bacteria on the food you eat, air you breathe in, people you kiss, etc.
Listerine contains alcohol which kills germs. Obviously, as the prior post pointed out, we don’t live in a sterile world. Of course, you can continually drink alcohol and see if that eliminates cavities.
Try to remember that dental caries(the medical term for tooth decay) is the most common disease on earth. Far more common than the “common cold”. That said there are several new avenues being explored to prevent this problem.
The first involves a polymer seal that will coat to teeth to prevent erosion, (i.e., gumline decay). An overall coating is difficult due to the grinding action of the teeth and the subsequent removal of any barrier from those interfacial regions.
Another method being investigated is using a laser to effectively “plate” the teeth with some other sort of protective or reactive coating. All of these techniques are merely improvements on the most common form of prevention, namely water fluoridation. The highly reactive fluorine bonds with the calcium surfaces to chemically “passivate” them.
Sadly, the mouth is an incredibly active environment (as pointed out above). Wholesale elimination of bacteria is neither possible or desirable. Your own saliva actually assists in the re-enamelling of your teeth on a continous basis.
Genetic engineering to the rescue–human trials may begin in the near future on a GM bacterium that looks very promising for preventing tooth decay.
Until then, perhaps we should eat more chocolate?
Badtz Maru, you got the right idea. All you have to do is sterilize your mouth and never again allow any food (especially carbohydrates) to get into it and you will never have to worry about cavities.
“If tooth decay is caused by the byproducts of microorganisms in your mouth digesting sugar”
Really? I thought science was still not 100% sure what causes it. Maybe you should write them a note informing them? Cause some people never get cavities.
Nope, handy. It’s bacteria. Some people don’t get tooth decay simply because they have better oral hygeine or better diets.
My dentist told me that S. mutans comes in variations. The byproducts of one variation tend to affect tooth enamel, and the byproducts of the other, the gums.
Ergo, you tend to have caries, or gum disease, but not usually both. I myself have a number of fillings, but gums like vulcanized rubber. My grandmother had to have all her perfect, cavity-free teeth out due to gum disease.
Can anyone else corroborate this?