Why you may get future vaccines via dental floss

Researchers have demonstrated a novel vaccine delivery method in an animal model, using dental floss to introduce the vaccine via the tissue between the teeth and gums.

The testing found that the new technique stimulates the production of antibodies in mucosal surfaces, such as the lining of the nose and lungs.

"Mucosal surfaces are important, because they are a source of entry for pathogens, such as influenza and COVID," says Harvinder Singh Gill, corresponding author of a paper on the work. "However, if a vaccine is given by injection, antibodies are primarily produced in the bloodstream throughout the body, and relatively few antibodies are produced on mucosal surfaces.

"But we know that when a vaccine is given via the mucosal surface, antibodies are stimulated not only in the bloodstream, but also on mucosal surfaces," says Gill, who is the Ronald B. and Cynthia J. McNeill Term Professor in Nanomedicine at North Carolina State University. "This improves the body's ability to prevent infection, because there is an additional line of antibody defense before a pathogen enters the body."

"Because the junctional epithelium is more permeable than other epithelial tissues—and is a mucosal layer—it presents a unique opportunity for introducing vaccines to the body in a way that will stimulate enhanced antibody production across the body's mucosal layers," says Gill.

Image source: Jie Sun, NC State University.