In the late 1980's, an advertising campaign for Crest toothpaste pitted a team of toothbrush-toting superheroes against the dreaded “Cavity Creeps,” who sought to destroy the peaceful, dentally entwined city of Toothopolis. In actuality, the evil cavity creeps are bacterial species that are capable of creating sticky biofilms that allow them to be glued to the surface of teeth, eating away the enamel. Now, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) investigators have created a small molecule that prevents or impedes tooth cavities in rats. Findings from the study were published recently in Scientific Reports in an article entitled “Structure-Based Discovery of Small Molecule Inhibitors of Cariogenic Virulence.”
