Probiotics Explained
Probiotics is defined as the use of beneficial live bacteria to help the body deal with opportunistic bacteria. We all have heard about probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus and Bifidus that have been discovered to help gaseous stomachs and indigestion. However these bacteria are not useful in the mouth. Streptococcus salivarius K12 is a new bacteria that lives solely on the tongue surface, and produces BLIS. Bacteria that make BLIS peptides are often known as Probiotics.

Certain strains of micro-organisms produce BLIS substances, which act as natural antibiotics and control the growth of undesirable bacteria. This field of research is called Bacteriotherapy (the use of strains of beneficial bacteria to control infection by undesirable bacteria).

Professor John Tagg and his research team from the Department of Microbiology, University of Otago are the world leaders in the Bacteriotherapy field leading to one of the worlds most extensive collections of BLIS producing organisms gathered over a 20 year period. This widespread research and testing carried out over many years has enabled this research team to identify beneficial strains of naturally occurring bacteria, that by producing antibacterial peptides, help protect against infection by undesirable bacteria.

An example of the use of Bacteriotherapy is to use BLIS producing strains of Streptococcus salivarius a naturally occurring flora of the oral cavity, to control infection by Streptococcus pyogenes which can lead to the common "Strep" throat, and rarer potentially serious diseases such as rheumatic fever and scarlet fever. Another use of Bacteriotherapy, is to use BLIS producing strains of Streptococcus salivarius to fight bacteria of the mouth that cause bad breath and halitosis.

BLIS Technologies is the patent holder of Streptococcus salivarius K12. This is a BLIS producing probiotic shown to treat bad breath and sour taste. You can watch a 3 minute video that gives a graphical explanation. watch video

BLIS Technologies and Dr Speiser's Australian Breath Clinic
The use of probiotics in the mouth really accelerated when BLIS Technologies approached Dr Speiser of Australian Breath Clinic in 2004 to help develop a bad breath formulation based around the existing technology. Dr Speiser used his profound dental knowledge to help develop a potent Bad Breath System known today as KForce.

Dr Speiser found that when a complete mouth regime of Balancing the bacteria by removing the bacteria laden biofilms, and then colonising the mouth with KForce K12 equated to extremely fresh breath and taste by most of his patients who visited his Australian Breath Clinic. He scientifically proved this by taking saliva samples before during and after treatments. These samples were examined under microscope at BLIS Technologies in New Zealand, and showed that patients with high bad breath readings had little or no Streptococcus salivarius in their mouth. Yet after being on the Breath Clinic Program and achieving normal fresh breath scores, the patient saliva showed a high level of KForce K12 probiotic.

In every case where breath readings did not substantially improve, the levels of KForce Probiotic were low to non existent. These patients were not able to correct their hostile mouth environment to allow a proper colonisation. This has now led Dr Speiser to the next stage of research; that of increasing the ability of the KForce Probiotic to colonise the mouth. This has been achieved by the introduction in April 2008 of the new KForce Balance System. The KForce Balance System is used before the KForce Probiotics to enhanced their uptake.

Since 2004, Dr Speiser's Australian Breath Clinic has been continually developing formulations. The great success Dr Speiser has been achieving was recently recognised by winning the Australian Business Award for Enterprise 2006.