Streptococcus Dentisani in our dental folder: The end of caries forever

The Fisabio Foundation Oral Microbiome Laboratory group has discovered a bacteria capable of protecting us against caries and expects to include it in a dental folder, which may be the beginning of a world free of this type of infections.

We know that the intestinal microbiota is very beneficial for our health, but it is not the only one. We also have microbiota in the epithelium of our body, and specifically in the oral epithelium there was a very innovative peculiarity that could mean one before and one after: the existence of a bacteria capable of protecting us against caries.

With the emergence of metagenomics, microbiologists were able to take a step further in the study of the bacterial composition of the samples. It was no longer necessary to worship them (where only 1% of the original composition could be detected), but that one could directly sequence the genome present in a sample and detect 100%. Thus, the Oral Microbiome Laboratory group of Comunitat Valenciana, which focuses on the study of the oral microbiome, analyzed the bacterial composition of oral biofilm samples in a variety of patients, describing two very particular aspects:

• Bacterial species that form cavities are not always the same. Although there are species that we know cause it (Streptococcus Mutans, Veillonela parvula, Actinomycetes viscosus, Lactobacillus acidophilus among others), its concentrations and presence in different cavities vary. In fact, it was demonstrated that caries in the same tooth, but with unconnected/communicated cavities, contain differences as to their composition.

• A bacterium of the genus Streptoccocus never before described, which they called Streptococcus Dentisani It is able to inhibit the growth of cavities and protect those who possess it in their oral microbiome. To find out this, the researchers observed that the bacterial composition among people who had ever had caries in their life and that of those who had never suffered from this problem varied. He called them in particular the variation of an unknown (dentisani) for what they decided to grow on plates along with Streptococcus Mutans (cause of caries infection). After cultivation, they observed a halo of inhibition and confirmed that S. dentisani, present in people who have never suffered from caries, is able to eliminate the growth of tooth infections.

After these promising findings, they decided to continue with the study of S. dentisani more In depth, it is found that this bacteria contains a cluster of anti-caries genes in its genome. These genes encode bacteriocin proteins (dentisin B for example), modify the middle Ph and cause pores in the membrane of cavity-generating bacteria, removing them from the dental plaque. If it happened to them, then include S. dentisani as probiotic in toothpastes to manage to eradicate and end caries problems in the world population.

Currently, this project is in the last steps to launch the industry this hopeful and promising product that will definitely change our lives, and even, it is expected to launch a series on Netflix where the whole process of this great discovery is explained.

A world where the next generations unaware of the pain of cavities could be much closer than we think.