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Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

dentistryiq.com

21–30 of 89 posts

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#21
post #9
post #3

Nice, I hope this hits mainstream in the next 10 years - I'm hoping my teeth will survive without a lot of damage till then :). The researchers also have filed for a patent https://www.google.com/patents/US20140186273

You can regrow tooth enamel on your own right now. It's much, much slower than this and requires a criminally large amount of cod liver oil and butter oil (ie: vitamins A, D, K2 and calcium).

Yup, you could also tackle your diet. Given the multifactorial aetiology of dental caries; Host, Plaque, and diet. I would highly recommend the least invasive approach; changing your diet. In addition to the noted vitamins, sucrose should not be included in your dietary program seeing as how it is a cariogenic constitute. There are other compounds that play a major role in the development of dental caries, but sucrose has that special something about it. Also, fluoride either in water (1.13ppm) or topical. Lasty, Xyiltol gum, it helps to rebalance oral pH. And of course brush and floss. This way, you prevent the development of dental caries--fingers crossed--and help in the reminiralisazion process.

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#22

Finally something to advance dental technology :) I wonder how much existing practices, who are invested in repair and especially cleaning of teeth feel about possibilities to permanently repair teeth. There are other advances such as the one with laser stimulation.

There's Silver Nitrate / Silver Diamine Fluoride [1] which appear to be as effective as drilling + filling cavities. Of course, they are also much, much cheaper, so they will cut into that average $160K/yr salary for dentists in the US... 1: http://www.dentistryiq.com/articles/2016/07/the-dos-and-don-...

> Of course, they are also much, much cheaper, so they will cut into that average $160K/yr salary for dentists in the US...

I doubt that this makes much of an impact. Cavities aren't really a money maker for dentists and inadequacies inherent to the repair process mean that you'll almost certainly need more expensive work later on. The only way to really "beat" the dentists is to avoid enamel loss and calculus formation through proper cleaning technique and regular dental cleanings.

https://www.animated-teeth.com/dental_insurance/a-dental-cos...

Most dentists in the US are private practice which makes for a competitive market that prides itself on the quality of its customer care. If you really want to be worried about someone coming to take your hard earned money I'd be concerned about the growing incorporation of dentistry offices in the US.

http://www.dentaleconomics.com/articles/print/volume-105/iss...

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#23

Is it just me, or does it feel like we've been hearing about advances in dental treatment for decades, without them actually having any effect on the practice? From my personal experience as someone living in the Netherlands, where standards of health care are pretty high, I would expect these advancements to make at least _some_ impact on the field. Instead my (admittedly anecdotal) experience as a patient has been…

The announcements of new treatments and new discoveries in various healthcare fields astronomically outstrips the real ones that you can actually make use of.

The easy money is in the hyping of potential cures, and it's easy to see why. Even in this HN thread where you'd expect the level of scientific understanding and healthy skepticism to be fairly high, you see a lot of "Wow, it's about time" type responses. Now imagine the response of the politician controlling grant money who has no background in science.

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#24
post #20

The root cause of most dental issues , including dental carries is a simple bacteria. We've been dealing with bacteria , extremely well, since the first vaccine. And for 30 years , there has been research for a vaccine. So where is it ? Well, one company , oragenics was ready for clinical trials. But it seem[1] that, due to a very restrictive enrollment criteria they couldn't enrol people to their clinical trial.Due…

Dental caries aren't caused by a single species of bacteria, but by multiple species working together. They form an extracellular matrix called a 'biofilm' that makes them resistant to immune system attack [1].

The link you cite is not a vaccine, but a supposed 'replacement' bacteria that outcompetes the native bacteria [2]. This can definitely work, but I'm doubtful it will be universally effective, for the same reasons that probiotics don't always work: every person has different existing populations of bacteria, and not every invading species will be successful at colonizing or dominating that environment.

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20630188

[2] http://www.oragenics.com/technology-pipeline/lbp/smart

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#25
post #9
post #3

Nice, I hope this hits mainstream in the next 10 years - I'm hoping my teeth will survive without a lot of damage till then :). The researchers also have filed for a patent https://www.google.com/patents/US20140186273

You can regrow tooth enamel on your own right now. It's much, much slower than this and requires a criminally large amount of cod liver oil and butter oil (ie: vitamins A, D, K2 and calcium).

That claim needs a citation from a trustworthy source.

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#26
post #25
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can regrow tooth enamel on your own right now. It's much, much slower than this and requires a criminally large amount of cod liver oil and butter oil (ie: vitamins A, D, K2 and calcium).

That claim needs a citation from a trustworthy source.

O_o

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#28
post #23

Is it just me, or does it feel like we've been hearing about advances in dental treatment for decades, without them actually having any effect on the practice? From my personal experience as someone living in the Netherlands, where standards of health care are pretty high, I would expect these advancements to make at least _some_ impact on the field. Instead my (admittedly anecdotal) experience as a patient has been…

The announcements of new treatments and new discoveries in various healthcare fields astronomically outstrips the real ones that you can actually make use of. The easy money is in the hyping of potential cures, and it's easy to see why. Even in this HN thread where you'd expect the level of scientific understanding and healthy skepticism to be fairly high, you see a lot of "Wow, it's about time" type responses. Now i…

Generally speaking, politicians don't control grant money for research. They set the budgets for agencies who solicit proposals that are reviewed by domain experts. The exception is what is known as "pork", but that usually involves large projects.

Re: Researchers create gel that regrows tooth enamel (2015)

#29

Is it just me, or does it feel like we've been hearing about advances in dental treatment for decades, without them actually having any effect on the practice? From my personal experience as someone living in the Netherlands, where standards of health care are pretty high, I would expect these advancements to make at least _some_ impact on the field. Instead my (admittedly anecdotal) experience as a patient has been…

What about Silver diamine fluoride? It has been used for decades in Japan so it's not just hypothetical. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/12/health/silver-diamine-fluo...
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