London, Jan 10 (IANS): Gone are the days when eating sweets was considered bad for our teeth. New research suggests that sweets could reduce the levels of harmful bacteria in the mouth that can lead to tooth decay.

Bugs cause decay by sticking to the surface of our teeth, where they trigger erosion. Sweets help to stop this as the harmful bacteria are swallowed with salvia and are flushed out of the body, scientists found, reports femalefirst.co.uk

German firm Organobalance GMBH has developed “The boiled sweets” that could be targeted at children to try to avoid the early onset of tooth decay, something which affects one in four five-year-old kids.

Streptococcus mutans, the most harmful bacterium in the mouth, feeds on sugar in the diet, which it ferments into an acid that burns holes in the surface of a tooth.

The most effective way to reduce bacteria numbers at the minute is to brush and floss regularly to reduce the plaque.

It is also said that 75 percent of those given the bacteria-loaded sweets had significantly lower levels of streptococcus mutans after eating only one sweet and this reduction persisted throughout the experiment.