Weaker dental enamel explains dental decay.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 25885796.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0124236 and PMC identifier 4401694.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Dental caries continues to be the most prevalent bacteria-mediated non-contagious disease of humankind. Dental professionals assert the disease can be explained by poor oral hygiene and a diet rich in sugars but this does not account for caries free individuals exposed to the same risk factors. In order to test the hypothesis that amount of amelogenin during enamel development can influence caries susceptibility, we generated multiple strains of mice with varying levels of available amelogenin during dental development. Mechanical tests showed that dental enamel developed with less amelogenin is "weaker" while the dental enamel of animals over-expressing amelogenin appears to be more resistant to acid dissolution.
Medical subject headings
- Amelogenesis
- Amelogenin
- Dental Caries
- Dental Enamel
- Dental Enamel Hypoplasia