Aims: The goal of this project is to characterize the relationship between tooth caries and proteins of the tooth (and saliva). Various factors such as gender, age, the number of caries, and presence of periodontitis will be evaluated. It is assumed that the results will enable oral health to be improved.

The aim of project is an investigation of the relationship between the prevalence of tooth caries and tooth (and saliva) proteomes. Any protective factors (which may be proteins or peptides) against tooth caries that are found can then be applied in preventive or medical therapy and in restorative dentistry. The discovery of negative factors can also lead to the development of a new class of inhibitors of dental caries progression.

The whole project will consist of the following steps:

1. collection of tooth and saliva samples according to their characteristics, e.g.: gender, age, the number of caries, presence of periodontitis;
2. comparative proteomic analysis of the samples of saliva, tooth pulp and dentin from all experimental groups;
3. statistical evaluation of the acquired proteomic data, searching for characteristic markers.

This project will bring together specialists from various scientific fields (stomatologists, biochemists and analytical chemists) to combine medical, experimental and biomedical research towards the goal of improving oral health.