Sugar Alcohols, Caries Incidence, and Remineralization of Caries Lesions: A Literature Review

Remineralization of minor enamel defects is a normal physiological process that is well known to clinicians and researchers in dentistry and oral biology. This process can be facilitated by various dietary and oral hygiene procedures and may also concern dentin caries lesions. Dental caries is reversible if detected and treated sufficiently early. Habitual use of xylitol, a sugar alcohol of the pentitol type, can be associated with significant reduction in caries incidence and with tooth remineralization. Other dietary polyols that can remarkably lower the incidence of caries include erythritol which is a tetritol-type alditol. Based on known molecular parameters of simple dietary alditols, it is conceivable to predict that their efficacy in caries prevention will follow the homologous series, that is, that the number of OH-groups present in the alditol molecule will determine the efficacy as follows: erythritol ≥ xylitol > sorbitol. The possible difference between erythritol and xylitol must be confirmed in future clinical trials

Dominance of iminopeptidase activity in the human oral bacterium Treponema denticola ATCC 35405

Treponema denticola ATCC 35405, a human oral spirochete associated with periodontal disease, was shown to contain three enzymes (I, II, and III) with proline iminopeptidase activity. II and III were considered to be true iminopeptidases, whereas enzyme I was found to be a benzoylarginine peptidase with iminopeptidase activity. Enzyme III, the dominant proline iminopeptidase of T. denticola in terms of its activity toward N - l -prolyl-2-naphthylamine, was considered to be a sulfhydryl peptidase: 0.167 μ M p -chloromercuribenzoic acid totally inactivated the enzyme, and 1.0 m M dithiothreitol restored 92% of activity. The activity of this enzyme was not affected by metal chelators. Chemical modification of enzyme III suggests that tyrosyl (or histidyl) and carboxyl groups may be necessary for its activity. The hydrolysis of N - l -prolyl-2-naphthylamine was found to be very characteristic of T. denticola ATCC 35405; out of 24 different N - l -aminoacyl-2-naphthylamines tested, only the proline derivative was hydrolyzed at a high rate. The substrate specificity of the enzymes discovered indicates that they may be important for the nutrition of T. denticola . The iminopeptidase activity may be related to the pathogenicity of this organism in periodontal disease.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41330/1/284_2005_Article_BF01568701.pd

Polyol-combinant saliva stimulants and oral health in Veterans Affairs patients—An exploratory study

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/72530/1/j.1754-4505.1996.tb00843.x.pd

Saliva Stimulants and the Oral Health of Geriatric Patients

Root-surface caries (RSC) has been recognized as a specific and important dental disease. Significant advances have been made in the pathology and microbiology of RSC, and the need to standardize the guidelines for recording RSC data has been recognized. Researchers have emphasized the increasing impact RSC will have on the geriatric population, especially since the methods to treat and prevent this disease are limited. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility of limiting RSC in a Veterans Administration (VA) patient population, using polyol-containing saliva stimulants that were voluntarily consumed by residents of a VA Medical Center (VAMC) over a period of from six to 30 months. Another aim was to study the effect of this program on the gingival health of periodontal patients.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/68278/2/10.1177_08959374950090020901.pd

Measuring Dental Caries in the Mixed Dentition by ICDAS

Caries has traditionally been assessed with WHO criteria including only obvious caries lesions. ICDAS has been developed to detect also the enamel caries lesions. This study aims to study caries and the associations of the number of caries lesions between the permanent and primary molars with ICDAS in the mixed dentition of the first and second grade primary school children. The clinical examinations of 485 children were conducted by four examiners with high reproducibility (inter- and intraexaminer kappas >0.9). The mean number of caries lesions—especially dentine caries—seemed to be higher in the second primary molars than in the first permanent molars. There were significant correlations between the number of lesions on occlusal and lingual surfaces between the primary and permanent molars. Enamel caries lesions, restorations, and caries experience did not increase according to age. Therefore, caries might be increasing in this population. As a conclusion, ICDAS recording seems to give appropriate information from the occurrence of caries lesions and its correlations between the primary and permanent teeth and surfaces

Hydrolysis of the Leu-Gly bond of phenylazobenzyl-oxycarbonyl- l -Pro- l -Leu-Gly- l -Pro- D -Arg (a substrate of microbial collagenases) by treponemes isolated from the subgingival plaque of periodontitis patients

Cell extracts prepared from several oral treponemes isolated from the subgingival plaque of periodontitis patients showed high enzyme activity toward phenylazobenzyl-oxycarbonyl- l -prolyl- l -leucylglycyl- l -prolyl- d -arginine (a compound used as a substrate for microbial collagenases). One major enzyme hydrolyzing this substrate at the Leu-Gly bond only was partially purified from an unspeciated treponeme (strain US), Treponema denticola ATCC 35405, and 29 different clinical isolates of T. denticola . The Treponema US enzyme also hydrolyzed furylacryloyl- l -leucylglycyl- l -prolyl- l -alanine (another substrate of bacterial collagenases) at the Leu-Gly bond. This enzyme also hydrolyzed various collagens and collagen-derived peptides. These treponemal proteases were sensitive to metal chelators and p -chloromercury compounds. The results indicate that human oral treponemes contain enzymes that readily hydrolyze in chromogenic protease substrates the Leu-Gly bond only that is the cleavage site of these substrates also by “true” microbial collagenases.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41336/1/284_2005_Article_BF02094028.pd

Hydrolysis of γ -glutamyl linkages by Fusobacterium nucleatum

The cell extracts of two human oral strains (FN2 and FN3) of Fusobacterium nucleatum displayed exceptionally high γ -glutamylpeptidase activity as determined with N-γ - l -glutamyl-2-naphthylamine as substrate. This activity was so dominant that the hydrolysis of other N -aminoacyl-2-naphthylamines progressed at a rate <10% of the former. Two major enzymes (I and II) were partially purified from FN2. I had a molecular weight of 115,000 and did not hydrolyze γ -glutamylcysteinylglycine (glutathione). II had a molecular weight of 70,000 and rapidly liberated only glutamic acid from glutathione. Strain FN3 contained several enzymes hydrolyzing γ -glu-2NA. Direct anion exchange chromatography of FN3 cell extracts separated one enzyme that liberated both glutamic acid and glycine from glutathione, one that was inactive against glutathione (but hydrolyzed γ -glu-2NA), and one that liberated only glutamic acid. Although γ -glu-2NA was a good synthetic substrate, glutathione was hydrolyzed at least 500 times faster by an enzyme present in both strains. These results indicate that the presence of γ -glutamylpeptidase activity is very characteristic of these F. nucleatum strains.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41334/1/284_2005_Article_BF02094016.pd

Benzoylarginine peptidase and iminopeptidase profiles of Treponema denticola strains isolated from the human periodontal pocket

Seven clinical isolates and the ATCC strain 35405 of Treponema denticola , obtained from human periodontal pockets, were studied for peptidase activity with several chromogenic compounds as substrates. The cell sonicates of all strains hydrolyzed phenylazobenzyloxycarbonyl- l -prolyl- l -leucyl-glycyl- l -prolyl- d -arginine (a collagenase substrate), azocasein, and the 2-naphthylamines of l -proline, l -hydroxyproline, l -pyrrolidine, and benzoyl- l -arginine, but the rates of hydrolysis varied considerably from strain to strain. Fast protein liquid chromatography on gel and anion exchange columns revealed further biochemical differences between the strains. The ATCC strain consistently produced several proline iminopeptidases, whereas four of the clinical isolates yielded high and three yielded low iminopeptidase activity. The ATCC strain and six clinical isolates displayed high benzoylarginine peptidase activity. The use of N - l -prolyl-2-naphthylamine as substrate revealed more differences between the strains than other substrates. The substrate specificity of the enzymes discovered suggests that they may be important for the nutrition of the organism or in the protection of the organism against chemical defense factors present in the gingival pocket.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41329/1/284_2005_Article_BF01568408.pd