The child was frightened all day. He knew what was coming. His mother warned him about brushing, but he hated it. Thinking back, it would have been a better choice to suffer at the whims of nasty toothbrush bristles than to endure the torture of which he was headed. What was this activity that instilled fear into the small boy? It was the dreaded trip to the dentist. This adventure usually occurs every six months, but the horrific nature of the little boy’s teeth required imminent dental care. He had cavities. The boy begged that his teeth could be cured miraculously. However, he knew that he could not eat bundles of candy and not suffer this dental calamity. Or, maybe he can, with the newly researched cavity vaccine.
Dental cavities, or caries, are a common problem in the U.S. It seems like everyone has to get a filling at least once in their life. In fact, 98 percent of Americans have caries by their fortieth birthday (Kranz, n.d.). Also, 25 percent of Americans end up with missing teeth because of dental cavities (Hemphill, 2004).
Dental caries is an infectious disease that is caused by bacteria in the human mouth. Children are born with a sterile mouth. When children turn 18 to 36 months old, bacteria begins to form in their mouth. This includes many types of bacteria, but the main perpetrator for the formation of caries is a bacteria named streptococci mutans. These bacteria feed off sugar, which is present in the human mouth due to the consumption of foods. When the mutans streptococci bacteria eat the sugars, they react to produce acids that eat away at teeth. If you see plaque on your teeth, it’s not just food from your most recent meal. In fact, it’s a mixture formed by the reaction of the mutans streptococci bacteria and the sugars (Kranz, n.d.).
A group of scientists have been trying to reduce the impact of dental caries. Dr. Martin Taubman, Dr. Daniel Smith, and a team of research scientists at The Forsyth Dental Institute in Boston have been at work for the past thirty years trying to “cure” one of the most common infections in the United States. The doctors found that the human immune system can be utilized to destroy dental caries, similar to how it fights off many other bodily infections and sicknesses. As with many other bodily problems, vaccines can be used to prevent certain illnesses to ever overtake the body. Vaccines give the body a sampling of the antigen to prepare the antibodies if the real antigen comes along, and the approach to preventing dental caries is similar (Kranz, n.d.). The new vaccine would contain antigens which would stimulate the body to attack the bacteria that causes cavities (Robinson, 2007). Drs. Taubman and Smith experimented with sucrose and mutans streptococci and eventually discovered that when they combined the bacteria and sucrose, the amount of plaque that developed could be limited by the addition of an antibody of glucosyltransferase (Kranz, n.d.). This enzyme, called GTF, allows tooth decay-causing bacteria to accumulate on teeth and leads to the most significant immune response out of all the tested antigens (Shivakumar, 2009). The vaccine kindles immunity in the GTF enzyme, making it almost impossible for the mouth bacteria to stay on the teeth (Brown, 2002).
Next came the testing. The scientists injected glucosyltransferase as an antigen into the salivary glands of rats (Shivakumar, 2009). The scientists found that the small creatures obtained less dental caries than rats that had not received the new vaccine. After testing their immunization on the rats, the scientists moved to humans. Twenty-five college students volunteered to be immunized with the vaccine or to be a part of the control group. Before the experiment, the students received a thorough dental cleaning to remove all mutans streptococci bacteria. Over a 42 day span, Dr. Traubman found a large reduction in the formation of the bacteria on the vaccinated students’ teeth. However, after those 42 days, the results started to look similar to the control group that did not receive the immunization. Although this seemed like failure, the scientists realized that adults were not the right group of which to be experimented. Like many other vaccines, the cavity vaccine had to be given to the children (Kranz, n.d.).
Most vaccines are given to children so that the risk of getting infections is lowered for their future life. Since the mutans streptococci bacteria starts growing when a child is 18 to 36 months in age, the scientists decided to target younger people, mainly in the 12 to 24 month age group (Kranz, n.d.). The scientists are currently putting their vaccine into a kid-friendly format, which involves vaccination through the mouth. If they succeed, filling dental caries can be reduced, if not completely removed, from the human’s to-do list (Kranz, n.d.).
As wild as it may sound, dental caries have a profound effect on our country also in a political way. If dental healthcare spending was removed from the budget, the U.S. would save billions of dollars annually. Worldwide, it is estimated that five billion people suffer from tooth decay (Shivakumar, 2009). A vaccine would also be cheaper than purchasing dental care and cleaning materials (Kranz, n.d.). A vaccine would also help people in many poor countries where dental care is not available (Hemphill, 2004).
That little boy going to the dentist could be saved from the fear he will experience with the implementation of this dental caries vaccine. A chance for cavity immunity would be cheaper for everyone, from the poor to the well-off. However, how would this affect dentists? Would dentists lose patients and money, or would they still be needed on our society? Sometimes too clean can be bad, but the risk might be worthy if it leads to the reduction of dental caries. I know that I’d be very pleased if I didn’t have to see another needle or dental object put into my mouth again.
Literature Cited
Kranz, R. (n.d.). Imagine…a world without cavities. Retrieved from
http://whatayear.org/01_07.html
Brown, J. R. (2002, January-February). Vaccine for tooth decay. Retrieved from
http://harvardmagazine.com/2002/01/vaccine-for-tooth-decay.html
Robinson, E. (2007, February 23). Is there a cavity vaccine?.
Retrieved from http://www.scienceline.org/2007
/02/ask-hsu-cavities/
Hemphill, L. (2004, March 13). Dental caries vaccine?. Retrieved from
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/6524.php
Shivakumar KM, Vidya SK, Chandu GN, Initials. (2009). Dental caries vaccine. Indian
Journal of Dental Research, 20(1), 99-106.
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