I hate going to the dentist. Most people do. But hey, there is a chance that we will never have to go again if this research pans out.
Here is the gist of the story. Cavities are caused by Streptococcus bacteria that live in our mouths and feed on sugar. They excrete lactic acid which fucks up our teeth. A company in Florida found a brilliant way to stop this from happening:
they have used recombinant DNA technology to produce a new variety of S. mutans which does not excrete lactic acid. Instead, it excretes tiny amounts of an agent called Mutacin 1140 which is deadly to other strains of S. mutans, giving these new bacteria an edge over the existing organisms. Once the modified bacteria get a toehold in the mouth, the existing population of S. mutans will be methodically wiped out, leaving the non-acid-producing bacteria in its place. In the absence of acid-producing bacteria, the teeth have little to fear. Oragenics calls this new treatment Replacement Therapy.
Awesome! There are little problems of course, that still need to be worked out. For example, can these things mess up our system somehow? Can they affect the environment if we start using them on a large scale, and they escape from our mouths? Can they be transmitted by kissing?
Still, this research sounds really cool. So cool in fact that it will probably be killed, trampled, burned and grinded into little pieces by the dentist & tooth care industry. How much do you want to bet this thing will never hit the market?