Your Beaches Pediatric Dentist Blog: Can Saliva Actually Protect Against Cavities?
According to a new study Sunrise Kids Dental your Beaches Pediatric Dentist had access to, the mucus which is about 0.5% of saliva which is not water, has salivary mucins which combat the action of Streptococcus mutans which cause cavities in the mouth region, affecting the overall oral hygiene.
At first it was generally accepted that the big glycoproteins also known as salivary mucins were just used by the mouth in order to keep the saliva gelatinous and the mouth lubricated. But it’s been confirmed that this is also used in order to keep the mouth clear of pathogens and germs.
Such findings were reported by both Cambridge’s Erica Shapiro Frenkel from Harvard University and first author and as well as Katharina Ribbeck which is a professor and primary investigator from MIT.
Frenkel started by reporting that the mucus boosts the mouth’s immune system which is more efficient than to make use of fluoride treatments or sealants. It’s better to have the natural formation of the biofilm structure within the mouth which is the composition of a gathering of microbes.
Your Beaches Pediatric Dentist found that the researchers explained that the salivary mucins don’t affect the mutans in the mouth or kill the bacteria. Instead they just suspend the bacteria’s activity by keeping them inside a liquid medium which prevents them from forming biofilms in the teeth.
Frenkel goes further into stating that the health of the whole microbial environment is possible because mucins are not only part of saliva, but they also are very active in the whole mouth’s region.
She also goes beyond and adds that the balance of the natural microbiome balance is better maintained if instead of killing the viruses the natural microbiome is maintained stagnant through the mucins.
The salivary mucins prevent pathogens from attaching to the teeth formation and forming cavities. They create an active natural barrier which is active to any pathogen which invades the whole microbiome environment. They stall and aggressive natural components in the microbiome making them stagnant.
In the study your Beaches Pediatric Dentist found that the streptococcus mutans are the cause for the decay of teeth in the mouth. However, clean teeth are better protected by saliva against bad pathogens.
Sunrise Kids Dental found in Frenkel’s comments that the main salivary mucin agent is the MUC5B. This MUC5B is responsible for disabling the attachment of streptococcus mutans in the teeth. By doing so the streptococcus mutans aren’t capable of forming the biofilm which brings about the cavities.
This study advanced from the previous analysis done on pigs and how their salivary mucins reacted to lung pathogens. Then the researchers also wondered about the mucins capabilities to interact with the pathogens.
Prof. Ritbeck has come about saying that this was a mind shift in the researcher’s capacity to evaluate that mucus was an advanced bioactive material that affected the whole oral region by making it safer against pathogens.