Falgun Acharya

Caries Vaccine: a Myth or Reality Falgun Acharya

Dental caries is also a bio-social disease whose causes are rooted in the culture and economy of our society. The control of dental caries presents one of the greatest challenges that must be met today by the dental profession. Dentists in their endeavors to reduce the incidence of carious lesions have given more importance to primary level of prevention, so that early arrest of carious lesion is made possible. Considering that the dental caries is a non-fatal disease and that it is socially acceptable to be edentulous, it is hardly surprising that patients are apathetic to preventive programmes. In the present climate, people are aware about the vaccination against diseases. Thus a programme of vaccination against dental caries could probably be easily implemented along with other vaccination procedures in childhood. The protection against dental caries by caries vaccine has generated hopes and a significant progress has been made in this field. Although caries vaccine has its limitations, when used in conjunction with other preventive measures may minimise the incidence of caries.