Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2004. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Associated Press - November 17, 2004
Janet Mcconnaughey, Associated Press Writer
A new study at the LSU Health Sciences Center dental school will look at whether babies whose mothers regularly use antibiotic mouthwash or chew sugarless gum wind up as toddlers with less tooth decay.
The babies will be very young when they start in the study, and will be checked every six months or so for at least two years, said Dr. Paul Fidel, the dental school's associate dean for research.
It's among four new studies to be paid for by a five-year, $10.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health.
The grant is the first in Louisiana to set up a center of research excellence for oral health, and the largest ever received by the dental school.
The other three projects will try to:
-Find new treatments for people who have both HIV and oral infections with human papilloma virus. The virus causes genital warts and, when it infects the mouth, has been linked to oral cancer.
-Develop new adhesives and sealants which will release fluoride to prevent new decay in filled teeth. Some are on the market, but they're not adhesive enough, Fidel said.
-Develop new ways to control gum inflammation, which has been linked to heart disease, strokes, and premature and low-birth-weight babies.
He said the mouthwash-gum study will look at 250 mothers and their babies.
Some will get mouthwash with the antibiotic chlorohexidine. Some will get sugar-free chewing gum with the sweetener xylitol. Some will get both, and some will get neither.
The grant is intended to help promising junior faculty and exceptional researchers, both by supporting their research but by paying more experienced faculty members to mentor them, Fidel said.
It will create nine new jobs, help pay some salaries, and provide almost a million dollars for new equipment and almost $500,000 for laboratory renovations.
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