Fight Back! Proactively Addressing the Caries Process

[drmithila]

Researchers from India have successfully tested a method that could help dentists to identify children who are at risk of developing Early Childhood Caries, the highly virulent form of tooth decay. In clinical tests conducted on pre-schoolers from Mangalore in southern India, they reported a link between the children’s bitter taste perception of a drug used in the treatment of autoimmune disease and their oral health status.
Oral bacteria attack children early
According to the researchers, who recently published their results in the Indian Journal of Human Genetics, children who reacted to 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) also showed a greater dislike of sweet foods and fewer signs of tooth decay compared with those who could not taste the compound. They also had fewer dental problems than those who did not react to it, the researchers said.

They concluded that taste perception could be used as a future diagnostic tool to identify children at risk of developing dental caries at an early age. “Tasters or sweet dislikers might avoid sweet food because their oral sensations are too intense, thus making tasters less prone to decay,” they stated in the paper.

Besides testing the perception of taste through questionnaires, the researchers observed the facial expressions of the children tested when exposed to the drug.

PROP, which is used in the treatment of Graves’ disease, among other thyroid diseases, is perceived as bitter tasting by the majority of people. However, studies have suggested that one out of three is insensitive to the compound. The ability to taste the drug is controlled by a specific gene that functions as a taste receptor.

First approved in the late 1940s, PROP is currently classified as a Pregnancy Category D drug by the US FDA and, therefore, its use is limited. Reported side-effects include increased risk of agranulocytosis and liver damage, including complete renal failure.

According to figures from Yale University, five to ten children die every year from taking PROP