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'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

bbc.com

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Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#91

Post by RhodesianHunter »

eganist wrote: post #84
astrodust wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It takes a lot of time to turn a laboratory discovery into a reliably working prototype, then longer still for the industry to agree on standards and branding, and even longer to ramp up mass-manufacturing and get the distribution chain working. We could discover teleportation tomorrow morning and it would be twenty years before teleporters were common-place. Everything takes time to be fully realized. If you want to…

> We could discover teleportation tomorrow morning and it would be twenty years before teleporters were common-place. Everything takes time to be fully realized. I can appreciate this example, though in the specific context of teleportation, there'll probably be a few decades tacked on to resolve the ethical dilemmas arising from the question of whether or not the person arriving out of the other end is in fact the s…

You say that now, but when you step up to the machine with the knowledge that you are about to cease to exist, while somewhere else a perfect copy of you gets to go about living your life, I bet you change your mind.

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#92

Post by jessaustin »

awqrre wrote: post #89

that would be a dream come true... most (all?) dentists are doing unnecessary x-rays that are a health hazard and this would of course help with that...

If you're worried about that, be sure to wear a hat when you walk outside.

Also don't ever fly.

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#93

Post by johnchristopher »

brandon272 wrote: post #10
slimsag wrote: post #3

This 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…

Previously, on HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13274183 :)

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#94

Post by mathgeek »

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #91
eganist wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We could discover teleportation tomorrow morning and it would be twenty years before teleporters were common-place. Everything takes time to be fully realized. I can appreciate this example, though in the specific context of teleportation, there'll probably be a few decades tacked on to resolve the ethical dilemmas arising from the question of whether or not the person arriving out of the other end is in fact the s…

You say that now, but when you step up to the machine with the knowledge that you are about to cease to exist, while somewhere else a perfect copy of you gets to go about living your life, I bet you change your mind.

Ah yes, the dilemma of whether the person on the other end having your memories means that the current you didn't cease to exist at the departing end.

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#95

Post by Cerium »

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #91
eganist wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We could discover teleportation tomorrow morning and it would be twenty years before teleporters were common-place. Everything takes time to be fully realized. I can appreciate this example, though in the specific context of teleportation, there'll probably be a few decades tacked on to resolve the ethical dilemmas arising from the question of whether or not the person arriving out of the other end is in fact the s…

You say that now, but when you step up to the machine with the knowledge that you are about to cease to exist, while somewhere else a perfect copy of you gets to go about living your life, I bet you change your mind.

I think it depends on implementation. I wake up every morning and I'm pretty sure I'm still me. I go in elevators and each time the doors open I'm still me. So, what sort of transportation experience would change that?

Admittedly, the closes to teleportation I've ever felt was my first trip on a cruise ship. I went to sleep in one city, and when I opened my eyes I was suddenly in a city hundred miles away. It was magic. I also still felt like myself.

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#96

Post by Cerium »

torinmr wrote: post #85
stplsd wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think genetics have a part too. My grandmother was deported to Siberia ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_deportations_from_Lithu... ) for 20 years where they have 200 grams of bread a day at best and never brushed her teeth in her life and never had a tooth filling or missing tooth before her retirement, and I have half my teeth missing and I am only 30 years old. Fuck my life.

Could that also be related to diet? I'm guessing your grandmother practically never ate sugar if she was living on 200 grams of bread a day. I've also heard that early modern humans had fairly good teeth for their age despite the presumed lack of dental care, presumably also due to differences in their diet from us.

Diet is super important. I used to drink orange juice every day. I got a cavity every 6 months. I have stopped drinking orange juice and have not had a cavity since.

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#97

Post by kbutler »

RhodesianHunter wrote: post #91
eganist wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We could discover teleportation tomorrow morning and it would be twenty years before teleporters were common-place. Everything takes time to be fully realized. I can appreciate this example, though in the specific context of teleportation, there'll probably be a few decades tacked on to resolve the ethical dilemmas arising from the question of whether or not the person arriving out of the other end is in fact the s…

You say that now, but when you step up to the machine with the knowledge that you are about to cease to exist, while somewhere else a perfect copy of you gets to go about living your life, I bet you change your mind.

Think about that as you're taking also tonight. Is the person that wakes up the same person?

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#98

Post by therein »

therein wrote: post #57
cowsandmilk wrote: post #45

Does anyone have good resources on non-behavioral factors that affect health of teeth? Growing up, I never brushed and did pretty much everything a dentist advises against. I never have had a cavity. With seemingly no consequences, it was extremely hard for me to find any motivation to change my behavior. I've often wondered whether there was something genetic, and today I wonder if maybe I won some microbiome lotter…

Were you a natural birth or c-section?

To the person who downvoted this: natural birth is associated with transmission of bacterial flora from the vaginal canal, acting as a seed for a different composition of gut and mouth flora.

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#99

Post by rincebrain »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #73
slimsag wrote: post #3

This 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 think this is cool research and I hope they can bring it to market but in the "its cool stage" it just makes it harder to convince your kids to brush :-) Parent: "Brush your teeth or you will end up with all this dental work like I have." Kid: "Nah, we'll have regrowable teeth by then." FWIW, I got an implant a couple of years ago and talked to my dentist about these sorts of things. On the plus side an implant is…

Why not? What makes it more traumatic/infeasible than removing a tooth in the first place?

Re: 'Tooth repair drug' may replace fillings

#100

Post by 8note »

cowsandmilk wrote: post #45

Does anyone have good resources on non-behavioral factors that affect health of teeth? Growing up, I never brushed and did pretty much everything a dentist advises against. I never have had a cavity. With seemingly no consequences, it was extremely hard for me to find any motivation to change my behavior. I've often wondered whether there was something genetic, and today I wonder if maybe I won some microbiome lotter…

depending on your mouth, you end up with your teeth covered in plaque, which protects them from cavities, but also gets you gingivitis and eventually your teeth will fall out

your water might also have fluoride; when Calgary stopped fluoridating its water, i got a bunch of cavities.

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