Vaccines for tooth decay are coming soon

Scientists at the Virus Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have recently published a report on their dental vaccine research in Scientific Report.

Accordingly, researchers investigated a protein mixture capable of preventing the formation and development of tooth decay - tooth decay caused by Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) .

In previous studies, Chinese scientists tried to keep the cavities from forming by using a mixture of rPAc protein from S. mutans and KF protein in E. coli bacteria. While the mixture can prevent cavities, it causes many unwanted side effects, such as inflammation.

60-90% of students and adults, each had tooth decay.(Illustration).

To limit these side effects, they developed a second protein complex called KFD2-rPAc.

In experiments with mice, the scientists introduced a mixture with mice into the nasal cavity. For mice that have not had tooth decay, this mixture increases the preventive effect up to 64.2%. As for mice with tooth decay, vaccines help increase treatment effectiveness by 53.9%. Thus, the vaccine retains the effectiveness of prevention and treatment, while reducing the side effects with patients.

According to the World Health Organization, tooth decay is one of the main health problems in most industrialized countries despite advances in the field of oral care. 60-90% of students and adults, each had tooth decay.

Although very promising, there are still many more tests needed before scientists can come up with a version of the vaccine that can be used in clinical trials.