Lantern Bioworks is working on genetically modified Streptococcus mutans bacteria (Lumina Probiotic) that produce ethanol instead of lactic acid and that excrete the antibiotic mutacin 1140. In theory, they can outcompete natural S. mutans in your mouth and prevent you from getting any cavities ever again.

Is there some horrible downside to this treatment? I plan to check at the beginning of 2029 whether some horrible downside has been discovered. Market resolves to my best judgment at that point.

Notes:

• If the treatment doesn't work but has no ill effects, resolves NO.

• If the treatment doesn't work but people change their behavior on the assumption that it does (e.g. living on a candy diet post-treatment) and their changed behavior results in horrible dental consequences, resolves NO.

• I might decide to resolve NO if there are only horrible downsides that I regard as negligibly rare, such as one-in-a-million life-threatening allergic reaction to the bacteria. One-in-a-hundred would be enough to resolve YES, though.

• Market will resolve YES early if I learn about a horrible downside before close.

• Variants on this technology don't count. It has to be S. mutans, it has to have the ethanol excretion mod, and it has to excrete mutacin 1140. If bad things only happen to people with bacteria that don't match these criteria, resolves NO.

• The same technology deployed by other companies does count, though.