IT MAY NOT be long be- fore Canadians finally say goodbye to tooth decay once and for all, thanks to two Toronto researchers who have developed a new tooth “varnish'’.

Many people may not be aware that it is not food in the mouth that is responsible for tooth decay.

Rather, it is lactic acid which rots the teeth.

This lactic acid is produc- ed by bacteria which feed on food particles (mostly car- bohydrates) that stick to the teeth.

Dentists estimate one billion of these lactic-acid- producing bacteria inhabit a healthy mouth at any one time. Furthermore, the bacteria reproduce so quick- ly that every six hours they double in number. Regular brushing of the teeth is nec- essary to get rid of the bacteria as well as the food.

The name for the bacteria is Streptococcus mutans; when it builds up in layers on the teeth, dentists call it plaque.

Now,

Drs. James San-

By Hugh Westrup

dham and Thomas Balanyk of the University of Toronto deital school have developed a snaterial, or varnish, which actually destroys the S, mutans bacteria, The varnish is called Chitorzoin.

Sure enough, the S. mutans bacteria were entire- ly killed of f and for almost a year the researchers’ mouths remained free of the bacteria.

Dr. Sandham says they were eventually reinfected by the bacteria after kissing their wives or girlfriends, who were not treated with the Chlorzoin varnish.

Only one man became reinfected with the bacteria within a few weeks.

Dr. Sandham says the man had many old fillings full of ditches and holes that gave bacteria shelter from the Chlorzoin treatment.

Dr. Sandham says he would not now give the treatment to anyone who did not have any old or bad den- tal work repaired.

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Dr. Sandham imagines a future in which $. mutans has been eradicated by the varnish in entire groups of people.

He says an annual check- up would involve being tested for reinfestation by the bacteria. ‘If people take care to remain free of the bacteria they won't get any cavities," he says.

During the time that Dr, Sandham and the other men remained free of the bacteria, they did not develop any cavities.

Dr. Sandham says children are not born with S. mutans in the mouth. They

probably get the bacteria from their parents while a parent is showing the child how to use cating utensils, and the two share the same spoon,

The new tooth varnish contains two ingredients: chlorhexidine and benzoin. Chlorhexidine is a man- made chemical which docs the actual job of killing S. mutans.

Benzoin, an extract from the sap of a tree that grows in Sumatra, helps the chlorhexidine stick to the teeth. Both ingredients have been used for years by den- tists and are considered en-

7

35 - Wednesday, July 10, 1985 - North Shore News

Tooth decay gets a shellacking

tirely safe,

Before the Chlorzoin is painted on, the dentist gives the teeth a thorough clean- ing. On top of the Chlorzoin the dentist paints a layer of polyurethane solution which holds the Chlorzoin on the teeth for four to five days, giving it enough time to destroy all the bacteria. (After five days the polyurethane wears off.)

Now that word of his discovery is out, he is racing against time to get it tested and ready for marketing be- fore anyone else puts out a similar varnish, he says.

Because he is working

NS

against time, he has sought financial aid from the U.S. government, which he says is more generous in awarding money for research and res- ponds more quickly to re- quests for money.

Coincidentally, a Cana- dian company in the Toron- to suburb of Markham, call- ed pHarma-medica of Scan- dinavia Ltd., has just devis- ed a simple test which den- tists could use to detect S, mutans in a patient's mouth, “The two products go hand in hand."*

Dr. Sandham's tooth var- nish has been patented by the University of Toronto.

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