Caries is the decaying of tooth and cavity formation which occurs very commonly in each one of us. But have you ever thought what can we do to stop this decaying process all at once so that we don’t have to pay every time to a dentist and get our teeth filled?
A new advancement in this modern-day Dental world is the caries vaccine. A caries vaccine is a vaccine to prevent and protect against the decaying of teeth. Streptococcus mutants are the major causative factor of human dental caries. The research for a vaccine for decayed teeth was under monitoring for many years. In 1972, in England caries vaccine was under animal testing, and that it would start human testing soon. In developing it there were many difficulties and with no such strong economic interest, the vaccine couldn’t be made available commercially as of now 2020. The search is still on and researches are going on to develop a caries vaccine. It can help in slowing down the overall process and preventing the growth of dental caries.
Earlier formation of caries vaccines was done by involving attempts with the conventional approach of taking the microorganism and putting it into the body so that the immune system promotes a reaction and stimulates antibody production.
A monoclonal antibody developed against S. mutans through the new planet biotechnology was another approach towards the caries vaccine. It is a therapeutic vaccine that was thought to be applied once within several months but the Phase II clinical trials were stopped in 2016.
The Chinese Academy of Sciences looked at using an inhaled vaccine that uses a protein filament as a delivery vehicle. This study was supported by both the international association for dental research and the American association for dental research both. Trials performed in rats showed an increase in antibody response and less amount of bacterias ie. streptococcus mutants attaching to the teeth surface so leading to significantly fewer cavities observed among the test population.
DNA vaccine approaches for dental cavities and preventing decaying teeth were a success among the animal models. Dental cavity vaccines with streptococcus mutants components and other adjuvants along with a safe and easy delivering technique are going to be a new discovery soon. S. mutans believe that the rational target for developing an anti-caries vaccine is protein antigen, which has adherent functional and important immunogenic regions.
The University of Leeds has also begun researching a recently discovered peptide that can be helpful in preventing the decaying of teeth. When applied to a cavity and coming in contact with saliva, calcium starts to get deposited as it causes calcium attraction to the site due to the assembling of fibrous matrices there. Thus it mainly causes regeneration of tooth. The Swiss-based company Credentials has licensed the peptide and launched a product called Curodont Repair in 2013. Recent studies have found a positive clinical impact on this research.
Thus we can assure within a few years we will be having few more vaccines particularly for our oral health and preventing our shiny whites from getting infected. It will save lots of money needed to visit a dental clinic for filling. We are hopeful for the future and are you?
