Tooth decay and the common cold are among the most prevalent diseases of civilized man. They are also alike in other respects: each can be caused by a variety of microbes, each has defied medical science's search for a cure, and each disease finds some people naturally immune.
Bacteriologist Gordon E. Green of Detroit's Henry Ford Hospital told the American Dental Association last week that about 1% of the adult population, regardless of racial origin, seems to be completely immune to tooth decay. Neither the amount of fluoridated water consumed during childhood nor the number of germs in the mouths seems to make any difference. In the saliva of these fortunate persons, reported Dr. Green, he has found an antibacterial substance. He still does not know what it is, only that it is a protein and resembles the proteins of which antibodies are composed.
Dr. Green has high hopes of a decay-free future once he has identified this protective protein, learned how to make it, and how to give it to people who do not naturally produce it. Another possibility would be to separate the antigenic fraction of the mouth germs that cause decay and inject it to stimulate active immunity through antibodies. This would amount to vaccination against tooth decay.