Nanotechnology to Play Role in Increasing Duration of Dental Fillings

Half of all tooth-colored restorations, which are made of composite resin, fail within 10 year. 60 % of all operative dentistry involves replacing them, according to research in the Journal of the American Dental Association. To make a bond, a dentist etches away some of the dentin’s minerals with phosphoric acid to expose a network of collagen. Acid-etching is kind of similar to priming a wall before it’s painted; it prepares the tooth for application of an adhesive to the hybrid layer so that the resin can latch on to the collagen network. Unfortunately, the imperfect adhesives leave spaces inside the collagen that are not properly infiltrated with resin which can cause the bond to fail. Dr. Franklin Tay is trying to prevent the aging and degradation of resin-dentin bonding by feeding minerals back into the collagen network. With a … Read more

3T MRI Detects Breast Cancer Not Seen on other Modalities

A recent study suggests, 3T MRI, a powerful tool for evaluating patients with a high risk of having breast cancer, can detect a significant number of lesions not found on mammography and sonography. Results showed that 3T MRI detected 66/66 malignant lesions; mammography detected 54/66 malignant lesions; and sonography detected 57/66 malignant lesions. “3T MRI depicted a significantly higher number of malignant tumors of the breast than mammography and sonography,” said Haitham Elsamaloty, MD, lead author of the study. For those not familar, 3T is a higher field strength for MRI machines. Much higher than 3T field strengths are available but only in a research and not a hospital or clinical setting. Many hospitals are now having 3T MRI scanners so if you feel you would benefit you can request and make sure you use one that is 3T. I … Read more

Ask Dr. Ellie

So I stumbled upon a blog for a Doctor named Ellie Phillips. Her blog is titled Ask Dr. Ellie and it appears as if people ask her questions related to dental health. It seems as if her blog helps serve as a platform for her to promote her company zellies.com. This company sells mints and gum that contains xylitol. Dr. Ellie is a DDS and does provide advice, perhaps you may find it helpful or perhaps it will conflict with what your dentist has told you. One thing to note is that xylitol is poison to dogs be careful if considering using xylitol.

Harmful to Run Every Day

After reading a post over at fitsugar.com on if running every day is safe and okay, I wanted to make some comments. I use to run nearly everyday back when I was on cross country and track in high school. It surely has its disadvantages and its advantages. The advantages include that working out is healthy for your body and can help you lose weight and even have more energy throughout the day. However some disadvantages are that it can cause injury such as tendonitis and wear down your joints. If you are young and training for cross country, track, or some other event such as a marathon, I think it is perfectly okay to run 6 days a week regularily. However you should make sure you mix up your routine and change your millage. For example, perhaps one day … Read more

Out of Control Libel Laws in Britain

In case you may have missed the recent happenings surrounding libel lawsuits in Britain, I am writing this blog post.  It is unfortunate that due to English libel laws, journalists are not able to articulate their thoughts on medical issues due to the fear of being sued. This fear is already causing many to not write articles that may criticize medical procedures and alternative medicine approaches due to weak scientific or no scientific evidence. I encourage you to read and visit http://judson.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/cracking-the-spine-of-libel/ if you care about making a difference and helping to get the law changed in England so that the public can learn about dangerous and perhaps not even needed medical procedures and treatments.