Scientists from the University of São Paulo (USP) have developed a probiotic tablet capable of altering microorganisms present in the oral region and increasing the resistance of the oral mucosa.
The new technology could help in the conventional treatment of diseases such as gingivitis and periodontitis, oral inflammations that, without adequate treatment, can destroy the tissues that protect the teeth, such as the gums, and the bones that support them.
The product has an ongoing patent application by the USP Innovation Agency (Auspin). Researcher Flávia Furlaneto, a professor at the Faculty of Dentistry of Ribeirão Preto (Forp) at USP says that the tablet does not replace standard treatment. “We created a product to offer more significant treatment improvements,” she says.
Professors Michel Reis Messora, from Forp, and Sergio Luiz Salvador, from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto (FCFRP) at USP, also participated in the development of the product, as well as pharmacist Rita Paula Ignácio, who graduated from the same institution.
How the technology was developed
The tablet was developed from probiotics, live microorganisms, usually bacteria, which when consumed in adequate amounts bring health benefits. The amount of these living microorganisms in the tablet needs to be “sufficient to benefit the health of the host”, says Flávia.
According to the researcher, a specific probiotic strain was used, the Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis HN019for tablet development.
Studies with probiotics in the Forp research group began in 2010. From 2015, after favorable results in animal tests, the chosen probiotic was placed inside a tablet and controlled clinical studies began in patients with periodontitis and generalized gingivitis.
According to Michel, the product was initially tested in the treatment of patients with periodontitis. The results obtained showed that the tablet was able to reduce the need for periodontal surgeries to complete the treatment of these patients.
“This way of looking at the treatment of periodontal diseases is in line with current concepts regarding the etiopathogenesis of the disease. For a good control of the disease there is a need for local and systemic measures, something that could be called oral and intestinal hygiene. And probiotics can act in this way”, says the professor.
From the analysis with state-of-the-art technologies, including DNA sequencing, the results showed that patients who used the probiotic tablet, along with the conventional treatment of gingivitis and periodontitis, showed additional benefits.
“In the case of gingivitis, at the end of the study, the participants showed less inflammation, changes in some inflammatory mediators and in the composition of the biofilm, the name given to the community of bacteria that colonize the dental element”, emphasizes Flávia.
The researcher informs that the product has a local action in the oral cavity and also a systemic action when reaching the gastrointestinal system. “The lozenge is like a drop, a lozenge really, the patient places it in the sublingual region and it slowly dissolves and is swallowed”, says Flávia.
In cases of periodontitis, Michel says that it was possible to observe an increase in some markers linked to the patient’s innate and adaptive immunity. “It’s as if the gums became more immunocompetent, more resistant to future infections and inflammations”, he explains.
Also in cases of periodontitis, says the professor, an action on the immune system was verified. According to Flávia, the probiotic microorganisms present in the tablet acted on the patient’s immunoinflammatory response, reducing the amount of mediators that favor inflammation.
Flávia emphasizes that, until now, there is still no probiotic tablet on the Brazilian market for the treatment of periodontal diseases, unlike some countries in Europe and the United States, where there are already commercial products with probiotic strains.
“The strain used by the USP researchers was never included in a product for oral health and other probiotic strains were used abroad, different from the one we use”, completes Flávia.
(With information from the Journal of USP)
Source: CNN Brasil
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