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Shedding some light on teeth whiteners

With all of the advertising today about teeth whiteners, surely this is a relatively new miracle of modern science. So just how new? Try the Middle Ages. The problem with having the treatment in those unenlightened years was that your neighborhood barber-surgeon would file down your teeth and then soak them in a concentrated solution of nitric acid. The procedure would turn them pearly white, all right, but it also destroyed the tooth enamel and led to massive tooth decay.

Scientists decipher tooth decay bug’s genome

Researchers in Oklahoma have deciphered the complete genome sequence of Streptococcus mutans, the main organism implicated in causing tooth decay. The work, supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, has been made freely available online. Said one of the team members involved in the four-year effort: “Building on this basic research may one day lead us to new approaches for preventing and treating tooth decay.” Added another: “By targeting the adherence genes, for example, we might be able to develop a way of preventing S. mutans from sticking to teeth.”