According to a new study published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a mobile "superorganism" that can wreak havoc on your teeth was accidentally discovered by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania school of dental medicine.
The toddlers with severe tooth decay were studied. The conjoined bacteria-fungi was much more resistant to antimicrobials.
It's worse that these organisms are mobile and can walk, something they couldn't do before.
The co-corresponding author of the study is a professor at Penn Dental Medicine.
He said that they have a lot of functions that could not be achieved on their own. It's almost like a new type of organisms, with new functions.
The study states that as the hyphae extend and make contact with another surface, the bacteria are lifted up and carried with them.
The researchers theorize that the increased virulence, resilience, and mobility of the assemblages can be traced back to their tight bond between cells.
Being both hard to kill and extremely mobile means that these superorganisms can colonize your teeth very quickly.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than half of all six- to eight-year-old children in the US suffer from tooth decay.
If you disrupt or block the binding before it arrives on the tooth, it could be a preventive strategy.
There's more on dental health. There are tiny robot shapeshifters that will brush and floss for you.
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