Virulent tooth decay in toddlers can be caused by combination of bacterium and fungus

Early childhood caries, a highly aggressive and painful form of tooth decay that frequently occurs in preschool children, especially from backgrounds of poverty, may result from a nefarious partnership between a bacterium and a fungus, according to a paper published ahead of print in the journal Infection and Immunity.The resulting tooth decay can be so severe that treatment frequently requires surgery - in the operating room, says corresponding author Hyun (Michel) Koo of the University of Pennsylvania.