Whereas research into the causes of dental decay has focused on the harmful relationship between dental plaque bacteria and foods, studies into the protective effects of foods have been infrequent and limited in number. Recent investigations showed that milk and cheese could reduce the effects of metabolic acids, and could help restore the enamel that is lost during eating. Postulated mechanisms involve buffering, salivary stimulation, reduction of bacterial adhesion, reduction of enamel demineralization, and/or promotion of remineralization by casein and ionizable Ca and P. Given this information, consumers may be motivated to use milk and cheese to reduce, or reverse the cariogenic effects of many other foods.
The relationship between nutrition and dental health has been a topic of interest for many years. Recently, the cariostatic properties of cheese have been the subject of intensive research. Most of these studies suggest that the use of cheese as the final food in a meal will help to reduce caries. Several mechanisms by which cheese may reduce enamel demineralization have been proposed. Chewing cheese stimulates saliva flow. The alkaline nature of saliva buffers the acids formed in plaque. There is also an increased rate of sugar clearance due to the diluting action of cheese-stimulated saliva. Research has also suggested that chewing cheese may reduce the levels of cariogenic bacteria. This may be secondary to the reduced incidence of caries as conditions within a carious lesion tend to promote the growth of these organisms. The high calcium and phosphorus content seems to be another factor in the cariostatic mechanism of cheese. Both casein and whey protein seem to be involved in the reduction of enamel demineralization. Casein phosphopeptides may also be responsible for some anticariogenicity by concentrating calcium and phosphate in plaque.
