We're a small biotech company started for the sole purpose of curing disease. We have discovered how to use proven technology in a new way to fight infection. We're extremely close to demonstrating that we can cure illness. By summer, we'll have clinical data.

We've relied on support from interns and volunteers to get this far. We can't afford to pay salaries. We need to offer pay to attract highly skilled talent for this one test. Without funding, we can offer only a minimal and modest stipend. With this one additional test we'll be able to obtain more funding.

This year we've received volunteer support from several interns and under-employed scientists. We hope this work helps advance their careers.

Our product has a lot of uses. We're working hard to cure tooth decay and gum disease. So many people suffer from it. By summer, we'll publish clinical and lab results. If you're impressed and want to try our product yourself, you can.

If you decide to help us, thank you for your support!

Additional Information

Did you know that your oral health might affect the health of your entire body? See this article from the Mayo clinic for a list of diseases and conditions that recent research suggests may be linked to your oral health. You could have periodontal disease without even knowing that you do.

And did you know that the American Veterinary Dental Society recently estimated 80% of dogs and 70% of cats show signs of oral and dental disease by age 3. AVMA says that periodontal disease is the most common clinical condition in cats and dogs. Our antimicrobial is safe for mammals including dogs and cats, but it must be reformulated for them. We're working on a formulation for dogs and cats now.

Here's a brief introduction to our oral care antimicrobial 1) clinical and 2) laboratory research. I'll post more details in experiment.com Lab Notes as our work progresses over the next few weeks.

1) Clinical test.

Our clinical test includes DNA data as well as a conventional clinical exam. Our clinical DNA test partner is Oral DNA Labs, Inc. Ask your dental professional about the test. Take it, if you can. Periodontal disease is asymptomatic until it is well established and often advanced. We've tested patients who were unaware they had periodontal disease (PD) risk, but had a moderate risk pathogen profile. We now know that oral pathogens can raise your risk of oral systemic diseases that may include cancer, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease, and preterm birth.

We have a patient who did not know that they had a moderate PD disease risk profile until we gave them an oral DNA test. After 7 weeks of our antimicrobial treatment, this patient's follow up test was normal. They did not notice any difference in their teeth or gums while using our antimicrobial treatment. PD is not the only disease that the human body can resist while still functioning normally for many years. Heart disease, slow growing cancers, diabetes, and high blood pressure can all be largely asymptomatic for years.

Shown below is a conventional treatment case study and a case study for our antimicrobial. This link to www.mcclatchiedds.com is for my case study source. The study subject had a moderate PD disease risk profile (previous test), but was able to reduce that risk after conventional treatment (current test). A great deal of intervention and treatment was required, however, and the risk of re-infection remains. Below is the test result showing pre-treatment moderate periodontal disease with severe bleeding, inflammation, bone loss, discoloration, and concerning pocket depths (previous test), and the DNA test results after surgical and antibiotic treatment (current test). Each colored column represents a periodontal pathogen. See this sample DNA report or this report, Microbiological goals of periodontal therapy; Periodontology 2000, Vol. 42, 2006, 180-218, for full details of the pathogens and criteria for how they were selected for inclusion in the report.

Conventional treatment DNA result

ArcSentry's antimicrobial results

Our antimicrobial achieved the following result in 7 weeks without surgery, systemic antibiotics, scaling and planing, or additional prophylaxis. Our product is safe for long-term use at a lower maintenance dose that can protect against re-infection with no risk of antibiotic resistance.

This is only one patient. Our clinical test will include over 100 patients so that we can use ANOVA to analyze our results. Still, we've been encouraged by our preliminary results. With as many as 1200 different oral microbes in human saliva, this data represents only a tiny glimpse at changes occurring during treatment. It will take years and many studies to understand the human oral microbial biome.

2) Laboratory tests.

Below are confocal and TEM images of whole saliva from a single donor before and after exposure to our antimicrobial. Most bacteria in saliva are rod shaped cocci like the ones seen below. Study these images for a few moments and you begin to see differences between the images where bacteria are exposed to the antimicrobial and images with no antimicrobial exposure. For example, there is less polysaccharide to bind bacteria to the bacterial colony in the "after exposure" images. The bacteria look puny and do not cluster as tightly together.

While clinical tests give us data at the macroscopic level, this is the other extreme in science, the extremely small scale. It gives us insight at the level of a single cell, but the small scale means small sample size. Microscopy data must always be combined with other large scale data before any conclusions can be drawn.

Confocal microscopy image of bacteria from whole saliva cultured in TY media at 37 deg C for 24 hours, with no in vivo or in vitro antimicrobial exposure. Calcophor (red, polysaccharides) and Syto (green, bacteria) dye. Scale at lower left is 3 microns.

Confocal microscopy image of bacteria from whole saliva cultured in TY media at 37 deg C for 24 hours, with no in vivo or in vitro antimicrobial exposure. Calcophor (red, polysaccharides) only. Scale at lower left is 3 microns.

Confocal microscopy image of oral bacteria cultured in TY media at 37 deg C from whole saliva, in vitro exposure to antimicrobial only, no in vivo exposure (15 hours in vitro exposure time). Calcophor (red, polysaccharides) and Syto (green, bateria) dye. Scale at lower left is 3 microns.

Confocal microscopy image of oral bacteria cultured in TY media at 37 deg C from whole saliva, in vitro exposure to antimicrobial only, no in vivo exposure (15 hours in vitro exposure time). Calcophor (red, polysaccharides) only. Scale at lower left is 3 microns.

TEM image of cultured bacteria from whole saliva exposed to antimicrobial for 15 hours at 37 deg C in vitro, no in vivo exposure.

Cultured bacteria from whole saliva for 15 hours at 37 deg C, no exposure to antimicrobial in vitro, no in vivo exposure.

If you'd like to see us in the lab, please watch this short video.