Biofilm's Impact

• Pathogenic biofilms can exist in many different environments: on rocks in streams, in the hulls of ships, on oral surfaces, on infected heart valves, on intravenous catheters, in dental water lines, and inside ducts, to name just a few.
• The negative impact of biofilms has been well-recognized in the industrial scientific community for many years. More recently, the medical and dental fields have begun to understand the significance of biofilms and their adverse impact on living organisms.
• Periodontitis is a classic example of a biofilm-mediated disease.
• Consensus is forming that the safe control and elimination of pathogenic biofilms is critically important in all these settings.