Physical and Biochemical Study of the Antioxidants Used in Dental Bacteria Inhibitors

Cocoa beans contain various beneficial compounds including polyphenols and flavonoids, both of which positively impact dental health. Polyphenols benefit oral health primarily by preventing bacterial growth. The chemical structure of polyphenols allow the molecules to remove ROS, inhibit enzymes, and induce antioxidant activity. Periodontal disease is just one oral ailment that research has proven for polyphenols to be effective at preventing. Flavonoids such as catechin, epicatechin, and procyanidins are antioxidant-containing phytonutrients. In this paper, those antioxidants are studied to observe how they beneficially aid tooth health by delaying tooth decay. This paper also illustrates how the tricyclic structure of flavonoids are able to thermodynamically give rise to such beneficial properties.  

In this project, we assessed the thermodynamical and stereochemical safety of several types of biochemical molecules that can be used as a biological and dental antioxidant.