Dentists discover new bacteria that may be the cause of cavities

PHILADELPHIA — Move about Streptococcus mutans, there is a new germs researchers say may well be contributing to tooth decay. Cavities are normally involved with Streptococcus mutans bacteria, but a new research has uncovered a new player in the activity: Selenomonas sputigena. This unanticipated acquiring highlights the advanced character of dental decay and opens doors to probable new cavity avoidance methods.

Customarily, researchers have thought that the root lead to of tooth decay is S. mutans, which varieties plaque and makes acid. Having said that, the collaborative examine in between researchers at the College of Pennsylvania Faculty of Dental Medicine and the Adams School of Dentistry and Gillings Faculty of World wide Public Well being at the College of North Carolina, reveals that Selenomonas sputigena, formerly linked with gum disease, can considerably enrich the cavity-producing electric power of S. mutans. This surprising partnership involving the two bacterial species highlights the need to have for a far more in depth knowledge of the enhancement of tooth decay and potential targets for cavity prevention.

To look into the role of S. sputigena, the researchers analyzed plaque samples from around 400 kids involving the ages of three and 5. They learned that whilst S. sputigena alone does not bring about tooth decay, it has a special capacity to collaborate with S. mutans, exacerbating the decaying course of action. The workforce located that S. sputigena gets trapped by the sticky structures produced by S. mutans, top to the speedy advancement of S. sputigena and the formation of protecting “superstructures” that shields S. mutans. This partnership intensifies acid production and worsens the severity of cavities.

The findings shed light-weight on the intricate microbial interactions within the oral environment and problem earlier notions of the causes of tooth decay. Dr. Hyun (Michel) Koo, a single of the study’s senior authors, implies that disrupting the S. sputigena superstructures or enhancing tooth brushing approaches could be prospective strategies for cavity avoidance.

“This phenomenon in which a bacterium from one kind of ecosystem moves into a new natural environment and interacts with the microorganisms residing there, making these amazing superstructures, ought to be of broad fascination to microbiologists,” Koo claims in a university release.

Shifting forward, the researchers plan to further more investigate how S. sputigena, an anaerobic bacterium, ends up in the oxygen-loaded setting of the tooth area.

The study is printed in the journal Mother nature Communications.

You could also be interested in: