What Are Biofilms in Oral Health?
In the mouth, as we mentioned, you'll find biofilms in plaque. When plaque hardens, it forms calculus (dental tartar), leading to periodontal disease. Mature biofilms are very destructive to the teeth and surrounding gums.
As with bacteria, biofilms are throughout your body and can be a positive force or a negative evil. During their formation, biofilms' unique structure makes it difficult to destroy them if they're the evil type. So, biofilms are linked to producing chronic infections resistant to all kinds of antibiotics and antimicrobial agents. Usually, they're also able to resist the body's immune system.
Science researchers, though, continually study biofilms to understand the intricacies of biofilm formation. That's the first step in finding treatments biofilms can't resist.
Did You Know? Antonie van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723), inventor of the microscope, was the first scientist to observe what would later be known as biofilm. Known as the father of microbiology, van Leeuwenhoek began studying microbes (or what he called "tiny animals"), eventually producing the first documentation of bacteria.
Four centuries after van Leeuwenhoek, scientists discovered the link between biofilms and dental plaque and tartar