I Abstract

In order to eliminate the damage to human teeth caused by dental plaques, SMS_Shenzhen develops the project “The Teeth Guardian” to deal with dental plaque after the selection brainstorm. “The Teeth Guardian” will be contained in the form of yoghurt, helping people take in energy as well as protecting our teeth from the damage of plaque.

Dental Plaque is composed of food debris, exfoliated oral epithelial cells, saliva, and bacteria. Once formed, it adheres cohesively to teeth, corroding the mineral surface of the teeth, and eventually leads to a series of oral problems such as caries, periodontitis, and dental calculus. Through massive amount of research, SMS_Shenzhen discovers that the Streptococcus mutans in the oral cavity is the actually "culprit" that causes plaque formation.This bacterium uses dextran as the main nutrient to convert sucrose in food into plaque. So the team decides to trace back to the origin, using the techniques of synthetic biology to weaken the adhesion of dextran to teeth and inhibit the growth of Streptococcus mutans, to achieve our goal of eliminating plaque.

SMS_Shenzhen has found two kinds of enzymes——dextranase and exo-beta-D-fructosidase (referred as “FruA enzyme” in following content), which can be used to reduce dextran adhesion and inhibit Streptococcus mutans. Our team transfers the genes into the engineered bacteria, which are capable of producing dextranase and FruA enzymes, and ultimately use Lactococcus. latis to integrate our enzymes into our product design, which is dental plaque removal yogurt. We aim to eliminate dental plaque formation using a convenient applicable method.