There’s probably a lesson here about “noticing you are surprised” and “thinking outside the box” in this ballpark. An attempt to learn about “rational toothpaste” turns up surprises which are hints at a cause of the surprise, which probably has mechanisms, which are probably opportunities to learn how to manipulate the world.
My best working hypothesis on this subject is that cavities are a symptom of a mostly-vertically-transmitted (ie parent-to-child) infectious disease (popular press meta-analysis). At some point in the next 2 to 20 years I expect the oral microbiome to be figured out, and a dental treatment systematized so that people’s oral “symbionts” can be upgraded so that those in the “surprising” high-cavity regimes can be adjusted to be in low-cavity regimes.
I expect this to be at least a little bit tricky, because I’ve heard that changing one’s bacterial symbionts in general (skin, gut, whatever) usually take more than one-time shocks. For example, I don’t think people generally have huge shifts in their oral ecology just because they kiss someone a bit, and so (low probability guess)… oral symbiont upgrades will probably take something like regular pro-biotic mouthwashes you use a couple times a day for N weeks to make sure the shift occurs.
There’s probably a lesson here about “noticing you are surprised” and “thinking outside the box” in this ballpark. An attempt to learn about “rational toothpaste” turns up surprises which are hints at a cause of the surprise, which probably has mechanisms, which are probably opportunities to learn how to manipulate the world.
My best working hypothesis on this subject is that cavities are a symptom of a mostly-vertically-transmitted (ie parent-to-child) infectious disease (popular press meta-analysis). At some point in the next 2 to 20 years I expect the oral microbiome to be figured out, and a dental treatment systematized so that people’s oral “symbionts” can be upgraded so that those in the “surprising” high-cavity regimes can be adjusted to be in low-cavity regimes.
I expect this to be at least a little bit tricky, because I’ve heard that changing one’s bacterial symbionts in general (skin, gut, whatever) usually take more than one-time shocks. For example, I don’t think people generally have huge shifts in their oral ecology just because they kiss someone a bit, and so (low probability guess)… oral symbiont upgrades will probably take something like regular pro-biotic mouthwashes you use a couple times a day for N weeks to make sure the shift occurs.