Sweets fight off tooth decay

DENTISTS have long since warned of the dangers to our teeth of eating too many sweets, but now, a new sweet could help in the fight against tooth decay.

The boiled sweets, created by a German firm, are sugar free and use a ‘friendly’ probiotic bacteria to fight off the harmful bacteria and could be targeted at children to avoid early the early onset of tooth decay.

Tooth decay is caused by simple sugars being turned into an acid which erodes enamel by a bacterium known as streptococcus mutans. The acid builds up into a film of plaque which creates cavities in teeth. The newly developed sweets are covered in another bacteria called lactobacillus paracasei, which prevents acid from attacking the teeth by neutralising the effects.