How do dental biofilms survive antimicrobial treatments (e.g. brushing, mouth wash)? Mechanical and adhesive forces in biofilms help to protect the bacteria and regulate their behavior but how they do so is poorly understood. Studying this in natural biofilms is daunting due to microscale heterogeneities in their structure. To simplify this task, this project will develop artificial biofilms by embedding bacteria in synthetic hydrogels with mechanical and adhesive properties mimicking dental biofilms. Influence of these properties on bacterial behavior (growth, viability, metabolism, etc.) will be determined and the efficacy of toothbrushes/anti-biofilm agents to remove these artificial biofilms will be assessed in vitro.