I feel like I've seen how fillings would be replaced with drugs for about 25 years now -- I might not have any natural teeth left by the time it finally arrives! :-)
'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
21–30 of 223 posts
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#22This is insanely cool, and I imagine there is no need for me to explain how useful this would be in comparison to the current dental approaches today. But is this technology ever going to be available to consumers? I remember reading about similar advancements almost three years ago and haven't heard anything related until now. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I think we won't see this in practice for a Very Long Time™.
I actually find these articles depressing because it seems like nothing like this ever ultimately comes to fruition. I'm guessing these "breakthroughs" have always been just around the corner. I recall having a conversation with my dentist almost 20 years ago about things that were up and coming that were about to make our lives a lot easier in terms of saving and strengthening and building tooth enamel but none of w…
I would of liked to been told `Nothing is going to come on the market` instead of `All this wonderful technology is going to solve any problems you're going to have`. The latter results in careless behavior, the former results more careful behavior.
Personally as someone as a kid was going up out-back Australia who's parents and care giver didn't put fluoride tablets into the water because it caused the water to `taste bad`. As a result I have screwed up teeth. Discussed this with this with my parents years later. Their reasoning for my teeth problem was poor diet and eating sugary food (Completely ignoring the fact they tossed the tablets into the bin).
Fast forward into the future with a family and two children I don't have soft drink, fruit juice in the house. Who would of known, all the kids teeth are great since our last dentist visit.
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#23> heightened the activity of stem cells in the dental pulp so they could repair 0.13mm holes in the teeth of mice.
Very cool. And happy to see some numbers posted in the article to measure the success. I now understand this is very PoC, but proof none the less.
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#24The dissolving sponge thing reminds me of a video I watched years ago. They took a fully functioning organ (from a donor) and dissolved the material so that the only part left was the collagen scaffolding. Effectively, it looked like a transparent organ. They then flowed the recipient's blood into the organ and the tissue regrew around the scaffolding, yielding a fully operable organ with zero chance of foreign tissue rejection once implanted. Anyone recognize this and might have a link?
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#25Fusion, cheap solar cells, and this.
Battery tech - it's the next big thing that never was.
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#26This is insanely cool, and I imagine there is no need for me to explain how useful this would be in comparison to the current dental approaches today. But is this technology ever going to be available to consumers? I remember reading about similar advancements almost three years ago and haven't heard anything related until now. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I think we won't see this in practice for a Very Long Time™.
I actually find these articles depressing because it seems like nothing like this ever ultimately comes to fruition. I'm guessing these "breakthroughs" have always been just around the corner. I recall having a conversation with my dentist almost 20 years ago about things that were up and coming that were about to make our lives a lot easier in terms of saving and strengthening and building tooth enamel but none of w…
I remember reading an article about these scientists experimenting with blue light and the larger capacity to store data. ~15 years later blu-ray came out. All hope is not lost.
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#27This is insanely cool, and I imagine there is no need for me to explain how useful this would be in comparison to the current dental approaches today. But is this technology ever going to be available to consumers? I remember reading about similar advancements almost three years ago and haven't heard anything related until now. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I think we won't see this in practice for a Very Long Time™.
There are limits to its usefullness. Teeth wear down pver time. This may repair a cavity but cannot rebuild a tooth mechanically worn away with age or with fractures, often a result of cavities. Fillings may be less needed but crowns (i have three) arent going away.
Teeth are not perfect. If i was going to mars id have them all either crowned or replaced with implants. Teeth are strong, but not stronger than metal.
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any reason you don't pop a daily calcium and vitamin D supplement?
Calcium supplements are distinctly distasteful to me, and that makes it hard to make a habit of taking it. :) The tablets generally taste like chalk. (Extremely literally.) And even the adult gummy variety are far worse than their multivitamin counterparts. It's really hard to make chalk taste good.
So get the calcium pills you swallow instead of chew?
Also, there's plenty of non dairy sources of calcium.
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Any reason you don't pop a daily calcium and vitamin D supplement?
Calcium supplements are distinctly distasteful to me, and that makes it hard to make a habit of taking it. :) The tablets generally taste like chalk. (Extremely literally.) And even the adult gummy variety are far worse than their multivitamin counterparts. It's really hard to make chalk taste good.
I've gotten four downvotes so far for admitting I have poor health habits! I honestly can't think of anything more Californian than that. Thanks, Silicon Valley!
Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings
#30This is insanely cool, and I imagine there is no need for me to explain how useful this would be in comparison to the current dental approaches today. But is this technology ever going to be available to consumers? I remember reading about similar advancements almost three years ago and haven't heard anything related until now. Maybe I'm pessimistic, but I think we won't see this in practice for a Very Long Time™.
You are not pessimistic. It's another one of those thing that have been only a few years away from commercialization for 20 years now. This is happening so often, there must be a name or a law for that.
Reminds me of a successful experiment where they caused mice to develop an immunity to plaque bacteria. I read about that in a dental training manual I found in a thrift shop about 20 years ago. Had photos of healthy rat teeth and everything.