Wisdom Teeth

Saving your Wisdom Teeth

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As mentioned in a previous post, it has been revealed that scientists in Japan were able to successfully harvest stem cells from wisdom teeth. This has several implications for patients. The first one being that if you have your wisdom teeth removed, it might be wise to save them, or have someone save them for you. This is because in your lifetime it is possible that the stem cells harvested from the wisdom teeth could be of great importance to you. They could possibly cure diseases and other health problems you may have in the future. What needs to be determined now is the best way to isolate and save the cells. It is not clear from the research from the scientists in Japan whether or not removing the wisdom teeth in certain ways can make it more difficult to … Read more

Google and Wisdom Teeth News

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I wanted to update you guys on two quick things. The first is that Google just rolled out a new feature to it’s search engine that used to be only available when you used Google Labs Beta. Now when you search, the engine will have other common searches with those keywords appear along with the number of results for that keyword. I think it is an excellent feature. The second piece of news of wisdom teeth stem cells. “Japanese scientists say they have created human stem cells from tissue taken from the discarded wisdom teeth of a 10-year-old girl.” However, the research suggests that it will be at least 5 years before any practical medical applications. Even so dentists are no starting to hold on to stem cells from wisdom teeth. In fact, I have known about this for nearly … Read more

Antibodies Present Mean Healthier Teeth and Gums

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Antibodies present in people with good oral health could become the first tool for dental professionals to assess a patient’s probable response to periodontal disease treatments. The antibody is to a protein called HtpG, the bug that makes it is Porphyromonas gingivalis, an important pathogen in periodontal disease. The antibody also has potential as a vaccine candidate, according to Charles Shelburne, assistant research scientist at the U-M School of Dentistry. Researchers discovered that the HtpG antibodies were present in much lower amounts in people with periodontal disease, and in much higher concentrations in those with healthier teeth and gums. Typically, antibodies are elevated in people with disease, because they help fight the disease. “What has been seen in periodontal disease over the last 30-40 years is that patients with periodontal disease have higher levels of antibodies to the bacteria associated … Read more

National Health Service (NHS) Dentistry Shakeup

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A new report suggests that the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain is having it’s fair share of problems. Dentists are simply removing teeth rather than taking on complicated treatments because they have become uneconomical to provide. The number of tooth extractions has increased. In the two years following the introduction of a new contract to NHS dentists in April 2006, 900,000 fewer people saw an NHS dentist than in the last two years of the previous system. This could also be an understatement. Why the sudden decline? It seems as if now dentists in the National Health Service are no longer paid on a per patient basis based on the procedure or treatment done. Instead they receive a fee for the year while agreeing to perform a certain number of services. To read the entire article go here.

Swimming Causes More Dentist Trips?

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With the recent Michael Phelps frenzy in the 2008 Summer Olympics a lot of people may have a renewed interest in the sport of swimming. I personally have been actively swimming regularily for the past few years. I recently went on to the American Dental Association (ADA’s website) and took a look at some of their dental minute videos. One such video discusses how swimming more than 6 hours a week can cause your teeth to become brown. Thus swimming chemicals can stain your teeth. This can be managed though with regular dental exams. To view the video by practicing dentist Dr. Maria Lopez Howell go to the following link http://www.ada.org/public/media/videos/minute/additional_swimmingpoolchemicals_broadband.wmv (you will have to download it)