Program Leader: A/Professor Stuart Dashper

Participants:
School of Dental Science, The University of Melbourne
Cadbury Schweppes Pte Ltd

Objective:
To develop novel remineralisation and antimicrobial technologies for the treatment of early tooth decay and control of dental plaque.

Dental caries (or tooth decay) is one of the most prevalent bacterial infectious diseases of mankind. More than 60% of Australian teenagers experience the disease and around a quarter of Australian adults have untreated caries. Treating the consequences of dental caries in Australia costs more than $2 billion per annum.

Researchers at the Cooperative Research Centre for Oral Health Science are developing new technologies for the repair and prevention of early tooth decay using peptides that naturally occur in cows milk.

Current projects:

1. Improving the understanding and performance of the casein phosphopeptide – amorphous calcium phosphate (CPP-ACP) complex which is now licensed for use under the registered trademark Recaldent™. This complex, derived from milk peptides, slows or reduces early decay. The complex is now being tested for its effectiveness as an additive in foods, drinks and oral health products.

2. Investigating new antibacterial peptide technology which is particularly effective against the dental plaque bacteria that cause oral disease. The team is testing the effectiveness of the peptide in two licensed products: Kappacin™ and KappaZinc™ which have been found to be more effective at inhibiting the growth of oral bacteria than current anti-bacterial mouth rinse additives. This new peptide technology promises improvements in oral health, and also in preventing the spread of oral pathogens that can lead to systemic diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular disease.