Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment • Hacker News Board

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#191

Post by tripzilch » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 10:18 AM UTC

roel_v wrote: post #159

e40 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Care to elaborate what the techniques your current dentist taught you?

With the regular 'brush compliance checks' mine does, an electrical toothbrush made significant difference. And it's not because I spend longer brushing, I even think I brush less in wall-clock time. The electrical one just seems to be more thorough ('seems' as in 'confirmed with dentist-administered plaque and gum health measurements', not 'I really want to believe so in my mind I make it so').

Electrical brush was night and day for me. Until I was 19 or so, I used to have a cavity nearly every check-up. Then, I got an electrical toothbrush, and it just stopped.

Now most of the work is maintenance on all those fillings, damage had been done, unfortunately.

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#192

Post by tripzilch » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 10:20 AM UTC

dschiptsov wrote: post #181

yogipatel wrote: post #103

This headline is overly sensational — this treatment does not apply for what most people consider cavities (i.e. caries, bacterial decay). It only applies for the very early stage caries process where enamel is just beginning to become demineralized. Tooth enamel is essentially a matrix that is hardened by mineralization. Caries initially demineralize the enamel, but as they progress they destroy the enamel as well.…

So, how are people a hundred years ago and back into distant past, or even nowadays people of remote villages in South Asia, unaware of the miracles of American dental industry, deat with demineralization issues? Has it anything to do with a diet, particularly of consuming vegetable roots, such as ginger, or redis, of meat curries as a calcium source? Has it anything to do with gums health, to with consuming chilly p…

Unfortunately for Americans & the industry, the answer is in fact not, consuming more of something.

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#193

Post by tripzilch » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 10:39 AM UTC

legulere wrote: post #188

derriz wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Must be a thing in German speaking countries? Last year i was asked if i wanted local anesthetic when the dentist was about to drill a back tooth for a crown in Zurich. I blinked with incomprehension - I couldn't believe anyone would NOT want anesthesia. But apparently I had understood correctly and according to the dentist quite a few ask to forego it.

Drilling and getting a filling isn't that painful and for some people getting a shot is less pleasant. There even are some dentists in Germany that drawing teeth without anesthesia, but with the help of hypnosis.

Indeed, some people are way more afraid of needles.

And the pain (for drilling+filling a regular cavity) really isn't that bad. The biggest unpleasantness about it is that it's in a weird place, at the back of my tooth, and that it happens at pretty much random intervals beyond my control. Most of the time you don't feel a thing, until the dentist "hits a nerve", sharp pain, but also subsides within the second.

And as far as I've understood they don't actually hit the nerve with the drill, just that the tooth locally heats up from the drill friction, which the nerve feels as a sharp pain, anyone know if that is actually right? I just ... read it somewhere :)

I used to do without (it wasn't offered, I was young and didn't ask either), but nowadays I usually opt for the anaesthetic, I don't mind needles at all, and there's no downside to it, afaik.

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#194

Post by nsgi » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 11:11 AM UTC

Mithaldu wrote: post #3

Important bit: "It could be available within three years." So it might be available in 10 years or so.

Or never

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#195

Post by dschiptsov » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 11:28 AM UTC

tripzilch wrote: post #192

dschiptsov wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, how are people a hundred years ago and back into distant past, or even nowadays people of remote villages in South Asia, unaware of the miracles of American dental industry, deat with demineralization issues? Has it anything to do with a diet, particularly of consuming vegetable roots, such as ginger, or redis, of meat curries as a calcium source? Has it anything to do with gums health, to with consuming chilly p…

Unfortunately for Americans & the industry, the answer is in fact not, consuming more of something.

Actually, it is not the parts of a plant that matters most, but the soil in which the plant grows. The very same tomatoes grown on fertile slopes of Himalaya or on North Indian Plain has very different compounds in it than hydroponic ones. This why Nepalese or Indian tomatoes are so tasty. Even such a crude instrument as tongue could tell the difference. It also will tell if a soup has been cooked with bones or not.

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#196

Post by merpnderp » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 2:19 PM UTC

pavel_lishin wrote: post #106

merpnderp wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Holy crap am I glad I'm extra sensitive to painkillers' effects. For tooth work, I can easily get by on half a shot.

One thing few writers focus on, in terms of the post-apocalypse, is dental care. A cavity can literally kill you if it progresses far enough. David Brin actually addressed this in The Postman; maybe this is why everyone in post-apocalyptic television and most films has shiny white teeth - they know!

Whenever I read or hear about "preppers" or people preparing for a catastrophe, I've always wondered what their plan was for dental care. When I was in my early 20's, my wisdom teeth became impacted. My only symptom was a horrible upper respiratory infection that turned into pneumonia. Without antibiotics and then surgery to remove the teeth, I probably would have died.

And The Postman was a wonderful book.

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#197

Post by merpnderp » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 2:21 PM UTC

stevetrewick wrote: post #187

merpnderp wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the person I was responding to was saying that capitalism didn't include a group of "loosely affiliated" people competing for business. It obviously does. State Capitalism would be if the government started a dentist company and, in this case, didn't offer new services in order to keep the profits artificially high.

It's not even remotely obvious that capitalism must include any competition. You might try reading the Wikipedia entry you linked.

Maybe to a pedant. But in the common usage of the term it is interchangeable with a free market, where competition is always allowed.

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#198

Post by mikeash » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 3:55 PM UTC

merpnderp wrote: post #197

stevetrewick wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not even remotely obvious that capitalism must include any competition. You might try reading the Wikipedia entry you linked.

Maybe to a pedant. But in the common usage of the term it is interchangeable with a free market, where competition is always allowed.

Isn't it pedantry when a person links to Wikipedia and insists on using the meanings therein?

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#199

Post by merpnderp » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:10 PM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #198

merpnderp wrote: post #197

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe to a pedant. But in the common usage of the term it is interchangeable with a free market, where competition is always allowed.

Isn't it pedantry when a person links to Wikipedia and insists on using the meanings therein?

Yeah, because capitalism means socialism, right? That's what state capitalism is, so let's just use the same word for both, then everyone will be on the same page and all the confusion resolved.

Re: Dentists reveal new tooth decay treatment

#200

Post by mikeash » Tue, Nov 10, 2015, 6:34 PM UTC

merpnderp wrote: post #199

mikeash wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it pedantry when a person links to Wikipedia and insists on using the meanings therein?

Yeah, because capitalism means socialism, right? That's what state capitalism is, so let's just use the same word for both, then everyone will be on the same page and all the confusion resolved.

I find it very confusing that you link to a Wikipedia article, pull a statement from it, then spend all of your replies arguing against what that article says.