糖果也能防蛀？

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Cavity-fighting candy helped cut tooth decay: study

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Most children are told to stay away from chewy candies to keep their teeth cavity-free, but children in Venezuela who ate a special cavity-fighting candy had 62 percent fewer cavities than those who brushed their teeth regularly, researchers said on Tuesday.

Children in the study were testing the effectiveness of BasicMints, an experimental fluoride-free treatment designed to mimic a component in human saliva that neutralizes acids in the mouth that can erode tooth enamel.

Researchers at Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine, who developed the active compound in the mints known as CaviStat, tested them in 200 children in Venezuela aged 10 1/2 to 11 who were getting their adult molars but still had some baby teeth left.

Half the children in the study took two of the medicated mints in the morning after brushing with a fluoride toothpaste. They followed the same routine at night. The other half brushed normally twice daily with fluoride toothpaste and took plain sugarless mints.

After 12 months, children who took the cavity-fighting mints had 61.7 percent fewer cavities than the placebo group.

The soft mints are designed to be dissolved and chewed into the biting surfaces of the back teeth, where about 90 percent of cavities in children occur.

\"Unlike regular candies, we want this product to be stuck in the teeth,\" said Mitchell Goldberg, president of Ortek Therapeutics Inc, a privately held company in Roslyn Heights, New York, that licensed the technology from Stony Brook.

Goldberg said in a telephone interview that unlike sugarless gum, which fights cavities by temporarily increasing the flow of saliva in the mouth, the mints actively neutralize acids that cause cavities.

He said the company plans to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval to begin testing the product in the United States by year end. It may take several years of testing before it wins U.S. marketing approval.

The study was published in the March issue of the Journal of Clinical Dentistry.
芝加哥(路透社) — 在星期二的报道中说，为了预防蛀牙大多数儿童被告之远离糖果，但委内瑞拉的儿童吃一种特殊的糖果来预防蛀牙，比那些有规律刷牙的儿童的蛀牙还少62%。

为了研究试验中的儿童使用碱性薄荷糖的效果，用一种无氟治疗来模拟口腔唾液中能抑制引起牙釉质腐蚀的酸性物质的实验。

立石溪大学的牙科研究员，研究了众所周知的薄荷中的活性成分CaviStat，测试了200个年龄在10岁半到11岁正在长恒齿的但还有一些在换牙的委内瑞拉儿童。

参加试验的一半儿童，在早晨用氟化物牙膏刷牙并且吃两种含药的薄荷糖。他们晚上也是同样的程序。另一半儿童在一天中用氟化物牙膏普通刷牙两次并且吃单纯的无糖薄荷糖。

12个月以后，服用防蛀薄荷糖的儿童的蛀牙比服用安慰剂的少了61.7%。

设计这种薄荷糖成一种柔软的易于溶解的、能够嚼进坏齿的蚀痛表面内，大约90%的儿童达到了防蛀。

“不像普通糖果，我们希望这个产品粘在牙齿中，” Ortek Therapeutics公司的总裁Mitchell Goldberg说，这是一个得到立石溪大学技术合作的在纽约市罗斯林高峰的私营有限公司。

Goldberg在一个电话访谈中说，不像在口腔中靠临时增加唾液流动来防蛀的无糖口香糖，这种薄荷糖积极的抑制引起龋齿的酸性物质。

他说其公司正打算寻求美国FDA的批准，年未开始在美国进行产品试验。在获得美国上市批文之前可能要花费几年的试验时间。

这个研究公布在三月发行的临床牙科杂志上。

{从这个试验看，说明口腔中这种酸性物质是蛀牙的重要诱因。这种糖果若能开发成功，会很棒，现在的孩子和成年人的蛀牙发生率真是很高唉，有多少人在受着牙痛的困扰和治牙的恐惧。而且市场会大。开发成功后会是双赢的结果，蛀牙明显减少，生活质量提高，医疗费用减轻，而公司也会赚翻，就是牙科医生的收入可能会受影响。

开发这样的新药才有很大社会和经济价值，值得为这家公司致敬。比起那些为了赚钱而开发一些胡七八糟的药，通过市场手段销售的公司高尚。

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