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The real disrupting tech would be the thing that can kill that 1 strain of bacteria responsible for eating the sugar on your teeth and pooping acid all over the
by tuxidomasx 14y ago
The real disrupting tech would be the thing that can kill that 1 strain of bacteria responsible for eating the sugar on your teeth and pooping acid all over them in return.
Its this acid discharge that dissolves tooth enamel. So, neutralizing that acid (like we try to do with baking soda) on a more _permanent_ basis would be super effective. As would simply targeting the 1 funky bacteria that turns sugar into acid (as opposed to nuking all the 1000s of beneficial bacteria too). It would seriously eat into dentists' coffers.
Can't we engineer viruses on a high level to do stuff like this for us yet? Virus vs Bacteria-- a match for the ages.
- jbermudes 14y agoWe already did. S. mutans has been genetically modified to excrete water instead of the acid that normally wears away enamel. http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Dental/story?id=98080&page=1#.T6whluhYvgA http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Dental/story?id=98080&page=...
- nitrogen 14y agoRecently they tweaked the bacterium again so it would only survive if fed a particular nutritional supplement. That ensures the bacterium won't spread from one person to another while kissing or sharing utensils. AKA vendor lock-in.
- Sanddancer 14y agoIt's still rather experimental. At this stage, I'd rather have the bacterium require supplements than risk more widespread problems. Once proven safe, then hell yeah, open the floodgates.