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Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

dental.washington.edu

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Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#21

Post by saurik »

endisneigh wrote: post #13
PragmaticPulp wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfortunately, no. These only deposit a couple micrometers of enamel per day if used twice daily. They could potentially help as a form of preventative maintenance, but reversing significant dental cavities seems unlikely.

That seems like a lot though. Let's say it's just 1 micrometer per day. A tooth is about 10mm (10,000 micrometers). So over a period of about 28 years all of your teeth's enamel can be completely restored? Given that most people don't lose all of the enamel of any of their teeth it seems like there wouldn't be any point of going to a dentist. By the time you're getting the age where you'd even think about dentures, t…

Tooth decay isn't a generic slow wearing down of all of your enamel but instead a concentrated attack on a small location of enamel from food for example being consistently stuck in a small fissure. A big thing you use dentists for is managing plaque that makes these issues worse, and probably also will help block the effects of these lozenges. Polishing your teeth actually removes small quantities of enamel with the goal of making the teeth a bit smoother so there are less places for things to get stuck. Dentists also are dealing with issues where your teeth get cracked or otherwise damaged from grinding or hard foods. I can't imagine just indiscriminately throwing layers of enamel at the problem is going to leave you in a solve where "there wouldn't be any point of going to a dentist".

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#22

Post by Blammar »

johnkpaul wrote: post #6
endisneigh wrote: post #4

Assuming this works, isn't this pretty much game over for dentists? I'm aware that dentists do more than fillings, but it seems like there would be a serious contraction, even if this costed something like $1000 a tooth after insurance. That being said, even if this worked, it's not like it's instant, so you still have to be careful with your teeth. I wonder how this differs from novamin, which supposedly does the sa…

Hah I felt this same way when I discovered you can change your diet to basically completely remove all dental problems. I doubt society can possible change quickly enough for us to see the downfall of the profession.

This is from memory, so could be wrong.

The goal is to starve the streptococcus mutans bacteria in your mouth. Since that lives off sugar and starch, you both (a) rinse your mouth with a bactericidal (b) brush teeth, tongue, and gums after ingesting any sugar or starch.

The downside is excessive bactericidal use or brushing can damage your mouth tissues and teeth.

Another approach I had heard about but have no further info was to be vaccinated against S. mutans, so presumably your saliva would attack it somehow. I don't understand the mechanism here.

In the meantime, I use a prescription dose of fluoride toothpaste daily to harden the hydroxyapatite in my mouth.

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#23

Post by johnkpaul »

kaybe wrote: post #19
joshuahughes wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably no sugar being the primary factor. No carbs too?

I have a friend with extreme food restrictions, they can mostly only eat animal products (plus white rice and very few other things). They also cannot brush their teeth regularly due to disability - yet their teeth look fantastic!

Yup this is me

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#24

Post by johnkpaul »

Blammar wrote: post #22
johnkpaul wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah I felt this same way when I discovered you can change your diet to basically completely remove all dental problems. I doubt society can possible change quickly enough for us to see the downfall of the profession.

This is from memory, so could be wrong. The goal is to starve the streptococcus mutans bacteria in your mouth. Since that lives off sugar and starch, you both (a) rinse your mouth with a bactericidal (b) brush teeth, tongue, and gums after ingesting any sugar or starch. The downside is excessive bactericidal use or brushing can damage your mouth tissues and teeth. Another approach I had heard about but have no furthe…

:-) my approach is just to not eat any sugar or starch but definitely agree with mechanism.

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#25

Post by sithadmin »

sebmellen wrote: post #20
joshuahughes wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Presumably no sugar being the primary factor. No carbs too?

Xylitol rinses are great too. Xylitol seems to function as a sort of “probiotic” for the mouth.

It's sort of the opposite of a probiotic. In many organisms, including many non-human mammals, it short-circuits normal metabolic processes. Xylitol-sweetened products will easily sicken, and frequently kill cats and dogs, for instance.

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#26

Post by 542458 »

VierScar wrote: post #17
Black101 wrote: post #2

Please get those crooked dentists out of work, as much as possible.

Crooked dentists? Is this some sort of conspiracy theory? Dentists are medical professionals, who have been needed since the dark ages, and nowadays have very complex equipment and technology to ensure the best long-term and life-like suitable treatments for people. What are you on about?

To be fair, dentists do engage in what really looks like price fixing (at least where I am, and to an outside eye). Every dentist here charges the exact same amount, regardless of whether they’re in the middle of a high-income metropolitan area or in bumkinville.

Also every once in a while you see some real horror stories of dentists doing unnecessary procedures on sedated patients, and although the extreme cases are absolutely the exception, I always do have to wonder if I actually need the (often expensive) treatments they recommend.

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#27

Post by hungryforcodes »

joshuahughes wrote: post #10
johnkpaul wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah I felt this same way when I discovered you can change your diet to basically completely remove all dental problems. I doubt society can possible change quickly enough for us to see the downfall of the profession.

Presumably no sugar being the primary factor. No carbs too?

When I was two years old -- apparently, I only heard it from the obvious source -- my mother went to a doctor and asked when she could start giving me candy. I'm dating myself but this was before 1990. Anyways, he said, "Never! Never give him candy. He'll develop a sweet tooth and it's game over for his teeth!".

Again paraphrasing and dramatizing, but you get the idea.

So my mom never gave me anything with sugar. To this day I don't eat any sweets and I have no cavities or tooth problems. I eat ice cream once a year, and mostly because people seem to like shaming me for not liking it. I always just have a couple of bites.

Anyways my teeth are in great shape.

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#28

Post by bpodgursky »

VierScar wrote: post #17
Black101 wrote: post #2

Please get those crooked dentists out of work, as much as possible.

Crooked dentists? Is this some sort of conspiracy theory? Dentists are medical professionals, who have been needed since the dark ages, and nowadays have very complex equipment and technology to ensure the best long-term and life-like suitable treatments for people. What are you on about?

Ehhh... dentists (even the not-obvious-scam ones) are notorious for overprescribing expensive and invasive unnecessary treatments.

They are medical professionals of course, and few are recommending completely nonsense, but it's like, if go to a plastic surgeon... they are probably going to find plastic surgery to perform. Not that it's _wrong_, just that it's really not necessary when you balance in the cost.

Re: Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

#30

Post by wyager »

Blammar wrote: post #22
johnkpaul wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hah I felt this same way when I discovered you can change your diet to basically completely remove all dental problems. I doubt society can possible change quickly enough for us to see the downfall of the profession.

This is from memory, so could be wrong. The goal is to starve the streptococcus mutans bacteria in your mouth. Since that lives off sugar and starch, you both (a) rinse your mouth with a bactericidal (b) brush teeth, tongue, and gums after ingesting any sugar or starch. The downside is excessive bactericidal use or brushing can damage your mouth tissues and teeth. Another approach I had heard about but have no furthe…

You can also just quit eating saccharides. Incidentally (or perhaps not), this has a lot of positive effects besides improving dental health. It's a first line treatment for many metabolic disorders like diabetes and even many cases of epilepsy. It resolves many digestive issues, as it reduces or eliminates most things humans can't easily metabolize (plant fiber, large sugar molecules, etc.). It helps with weight management because most human groups have not yet evolved an appropriately tuned satiety response to saccharides.
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