Reported November 2008

What Does it Do?: BasicMints contain Cavistat, a cavity-fighting agent. Cavistat disrupts oral chemistry and biology in two ways. First, it introduces an amino acid called arginine to the mouth. When bacteria in the mouth break the arginine down, it neutralizes the acid generated by sugars in food, which reduces the amount of acid in the mouth and helps prevent damage to teeth. Additionally, Cavistat adds other chemical compounds that protect minerals in teeth from dissolving.

Anatomy of a Tooth: We think of teeth as being the part visible above the gum, but this is only the tip, or crown, of a tooth. There is also a neck that lies at the gum line and a root located below the gum line. The crown of each tooth has an enamel coating to protect the underlying dentine. Enamel is even harder than bone, thanks to rows of tightly packed calcium and phosphorus crystals. The underlying dentine is slightly softer and contains tiny tubules that connect with the central nerve of the tooth within the pulp. The pulp forms the central chamber of the tooth and is made of soft tissue containing blood vessels that carry nutrients to the tooth. It also contains nerves so teeth can sense hot and cold, as well as lymph vessels to carry white blood cells to fight bacteria.

The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.

If you would like more information, please contact:

Israel Kleinberg, DDS, PhD
The Health Sciences Center
Stony Brook, NY 11794
(631) 632-8923
Israel.Kleinberg@stonybrook.edu

Tom Huddleston
Communications Specialist
American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists
(703) 248-4744
HuddlestonT@aaps.org