Dear friends,
Just picked up this week's copy of New Scientist, 14 March, No. 2125 and on
pages 32-37 there is an very interesting article titled 'Open wide, we're
going to explore' written by Garry Hamilton.  He writes about work of Page
Caufiled, an oral microbiologist at the University of Alabama at Birmingham
USA who is using DNA fingerprinting to track bacteria as they move from host
to host.

His analysis of saliva collected from infants and their mothers over a five-
year period shows important information about the movement of oral microbes.
There is a "window of infectivity" between 19 & 31 months of age, which
corresponds to the eruption of primary molars where nearly all children become
infected with S. mutans.  Caulfield also reports that S. sanguis has an even
smaller window of opportunity, of 45 children he followed, every one of them
were infected during a 3 month period around 9 months of age.  He is looking
at all the additional species of oral microbes and expects they too will show
similar emerge patterns.  Aparently, "bacteria come in at very specific times
in the development of the infant" and "the acquisition is orderly and in
sequence"  He has discovered that the source for these bacteria is the
children's own mother.  on looking at the DNA he concludes we all have our own
strain of S. mutans but that only mothers and their children share the same
strain.  Husbands and wives don't swap S mutans strains although another
bacteria that is implicated in gum disease may be passed between kissing
couples.  Caulfield has fingerprinted bacteria from members of over 300
families but has not been able to find a S mutans match between the two
parents.  He has been unable to march DNA fingerprints between child and
father.  Caulfield thinks that this come from maternal antibodies in utero and
from breastmilk.  The antibodies tolerate mother's lifetime cirobial
companians but reat against Dad's germs.  The tiny proportion that did not get
S mutans from their mother were ABM fed and because most children get
antibiotics early on this is an unnatural situation.  So your mother's
influence looks likely to be with you for life.

Now because I am an absolute ignoramus on such matters, all this information
about S mutans and S sanguis means nothing to me  - but - thought it might
give you stepping stones to those of you who are right in the thick of it with
your own breastfed children who have dental decay and/or with the care of
clients who contact you with this problem when receiving flack from those who
says that breastfeeding causes dental decay.

kind regards
Helen M.Woodman, NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor UK