But...it's not really a vaccine. It doesn't involve the human immune system whatsoever. It's a GM strain of the bacteria that doesn't produce lactic acid and easily overtakes the naturally occuring form. I don't see anything in the article about it simply delaying the overtake of the mouth by natural S. mutans. Could you point that out? As for something more recent, a patent was issued in 2001 for it, but I wouldn't expect anything all that quickly. I'm thinking more about the long term. I suppose resistence could develop, but that would be a relatively rare occurence and likely multiple strains could be made. And as for fluoride...yes, dental income did increase after that, but so did median incomes overall and general interest in dental health (as a result of education), I'm not so sure you'd see such a jump in the future. The cosmetic issues certainly have merit, but you must get a cavity filled or pulled, you don't absolutely have to get braces or implants or whitenings. You could go buy a new car instead, or even other sorts of non-dental plastic surgery. It's not like people put a certain amount away for dental services and just have absolutely decided to spend the money on that.
