Were you born to have bad teeth, or did you break them?
When it comes to allocating blame for tooth decay, one of the most common chronic childhood diseases worldwide, experts point fingers at both genes and dental hygiene as causes. Excessive sugar consumption and acid buildup in the mouth have long been linked with cavities, but there are clearly other factors in play.
That the casualty waters are still muddy is evident when diligent brushers and flossers get cavities, while there are those who suck down sodas and never floss somehow sport impeccable smiles.
So scientists are working to pin down all the underlying causes of cavities, and the microbial communities living in your mouth are one of those understudied wildcards. In a paper published Wednesday in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers examined the role genes, the environment and an individual’s oral microbiome play in determining someone’s ...
