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Article: Tackling tooth decay: oragenics hopes people worldwide will embrace its genetically modified bacteria to prevent a lifetime of tooth decay.(Special Advertising Report)
- Article from:
- Florida Trend
- Article date:
- July 1, 2004
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2004 Trend Magazines, Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Tooth decay. The Surgeon General has called it a "silent epidemic." It's the most common childhood disease, five times more common than asthma. By first grade, half of American schoolchildren already have a cavity. By age 17, it's 78 percent. More than 51 million school hours are lost each year to dental-related illness.
We've always been told that sugar causes cavities, but it's really lactic acid that does the damage. A bacterium in our mouths called Streptococcus mutans converts sugar to lactic acid, which eats tooth enamel.
"Most studies suggest that of the 500 or so bacterial species in the mouth, Streptococcus mutans causes the majority of decay," ...