Can anti-cavity oral probiotics spread directly between people via mouth-to-mouth contact?

Science•Medicine•Biology•Biotech

263

Ṁ383

Ṁ410

2026

21%

chance

ALL

Lumina is working to develop and distribute oral probiotics that outcompete typical mouth bacteria and do not excrete cavity-causing lactic acid: https://www.luminaprobiotic.com/

Some people are allegedly already undergoing this treatment: https://twitter.com/Aella_Girl/status/1726388994575929610?t=a1n14mUOcYVxA4PJzEENgg

My question is, is it possible for this GMO bacteria to spread directly between two people? The transmission could be intentional or accidental, but must be direct (doesn't count if it's cultured outside of the mouth before being applied)

I will resolve to YES if I get and confirm a credible and unambiguous report of this happening by the end of 2025, or NO if I do not.

Get Ṁ200 play money

Related questions

Will the Lumina oral probiotic treatment reduce the rate of cavities by at least 50% in the 4 years after application?

45% chance

Will the scientific consensus in 2030 be that Lantern Bioworks' product is effective at reducing cavities?

50% chance

Aella personally spreads Lantern Bioworks anticavity bacteria to people she knows any time through 2027

24% chance

Will a human-created pathogen infect at least 10,000 people by 2030?

31% chance

Does the Lumina probiotic make hangovers significantly worse for some people?

13% chance

Will human tooth regrowth clinical trials succeed?

19% chance

Will at least 10000 people have gene-engineered bacteria in their mouth by the end of 2030?

69% chance

Will a baby get Landern Bioworks dental microbiome from their parents by end of 2028?

46% chance

Will someone who tweeted about Lantern Bioworks before April get a cavity with the product before 2025?

37% chance

Will I get a cure to cavities before 2030?

Sort by:

I think it would, but you probably won’t see it happening in the wild. It’s too small a population to reliably show up.

People might be interested in a podcast episode I recorded with the founder where we discuss this question https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPyZt3EJCFM

Lumina Probiotics and Lantern Bioworks are run by the same people. I suggest you only reference Lumina Probiotic and not Lantern Bioworks.

@Kire_ ah, that was non-obvious from the websites. Edited.

@Aella you are presumably somewhat informed on this topic

@t3ss To my knowledge transmission is pretty unlikely. The original inventors self-applied and claim there's been no horizontal transmission over 20 years to their partners. It also isn't trivial to get to stick into your mouth at all; i had to apply an extremely high concentration and brush it in for a long time, after rubbing a bunch of dental polish to disrupt the biofilm. Normal saliva exchange would presumably not really disrupt the biofilm, nor be high enough concentration to latch onto the disrupted areas if it did.