Nutritional and Oral Health-Promoting Properties of Dairy Products: Caries Prevention and Oral Health

Treatment of oral disease is extremely costly, and it is the fourth most expensive disease to treat in most industrialized countries. Oral diseases and disorders, although largely preventable, affect the vast majority of the world's population with varying degrees of severity. This article reviews the role of dairy products in the prevention of common oral diseases and conditions including dental caries, periodontal disease, tooth wear, and oral candidiasis. The oral health benefits of whole dairy products including milk and cheese are considered. The use of dairy-derived bioactive peptides to prevent oral disease is outlined and the addition of probiotics to dairy products to confer health-promoting properties is discussed. The fortification of milk with fluoride to prevent dental caries is also described.Given the high prevalence of oral diseases and the cost of treating them, the development of even small preventive or therapeutic effects for commonly consumed dairy products has the potential to have an important impact on the burden of oral diseases at the population level.