War inside the mouth

Abstract

Declining oral health in younger generation has led to the great awakening of using bacteriocins for maintaining good oral health and treating oral infections. In this review, we present a promising family of antimicrobial proteins, the bacteriocins. Increased attention is necessary due to their powerful but narrow killing activity, stability, low toxicity to humans, and toxicity to bacteria. They are therefore considered as 'designer drugs' that target specific bacterial pathogens. Although only a few clinical trials have been conducted till date, the results suggest the use of bacteriocins, in the treatment of oral infections including dental caries, periodontal diseases and halitosis.