Many of us have to deal with tooth cavities, and they are caused by a multitude of factors. As mentioned in “Best Oral B Electric Tooth Brush”, not cleaning the teeth well enough, frequent snacking, or bacteria getting into the mouth are all contributing to cavities appearing in teeth, which are also known as caries or tooth decay.
ScienceAlert.com announces that scientists from the University of Washington invented a treatment that can encourage tooth enamel to recover. The product is based on peptides, and after applying it to artificial dental lesions in the laboratory, the results were extremely encouraging: tooth enamel was remineralized, resulting in the healing of the lesion.
A healthy alternative for dental care
Materials scientist Mehmet Sarikaya declared:
Remineralization guided by peptides is a healthy alternative to current dental health care.
Dentistry researcher Sami Dogan explains how bacteria does its evil scheme in the mouth:
Bacteria metabolize sugar and other fermentable carbohydrates in oral environments and acid, as a by-product, will demineralize the dental enamel.
Ameloblast cells produce the enamel for our teeth by secreting proteins. But ameloblasts die off once the tooth enamel is completely formed.
In order to come up with their new invention, researchers focused on one of the proteins that ameloblasts produce, meaning amelogenins. The scientists manage to design peptides based on the protein and create the treatment having the peptide as an active ingredient.
Being careful what we eat and maintaining a good hygiene for our teeth represent the best ways to stay protected from cavities. We must all be fully aware that there are no age limits when it comes to cavities – teeth can decay at all ages. Luckily enough, there are ways to prevent early cavities — and they can even heal on their own — with the right approach when it comes to oral hygiene.
The new research was published in the journal ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering.
