Will There Be No More Needles at the Dentist Soon?

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A new study reveals how a dentist could give you an anesthetic using a tiny electric current instead of a needle.  The study was published in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces and reveals how a dentist could give you anesthetic using a tiny electric current instead of a needle. The researchers from the study are from the University of São Paulo and believe their findings could help improve dental procedures and bring relief to millions of people who are scared of needles. Dentists commonly currently use anesthetics that block pain administered using needles. Many patients are afraid of these injections, and this can result in them postponing and canceling visits to the dentist. For patients who do not like needles, dentists can give them a topical painkiller to reduce their pain and fear. This can come in the form of … Read more

Diseases that causes rashes on the skin can trigger neurological problems

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An interesting chapter titled “Acquired neurocutaneous disorders” which appeared last year discusses how diseases that cause rashes and skin problems can trigger neuroglical conditions such as migraine headaches and strokes. The article was published in Handbook of Clinical Neurology by three authors affiliated with the Department of Neurology of Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. The authors say that a variety of neurological diseases have skin related manifestations that precede, coincide with or follow neurologic findings. A few of the diseases described in the article that cause both skin and neurological problems are: Sjögren syndrome. Sjögren syndrome is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own tissues. The most common skin problem Sjögren syndrome causes is xerosis which causes dull, itchy skin with a fine, white bran-like scale. Neurologic problems caused by Sjögren syndrome include aphasia (inability to talk … Read more

Is it Possible to Regrow Teeth Enamel?

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According to the National Institutes of Health the most prevalent form of chronic disease is tooth decay. Janet Moradian-Oldak at USC has  investigated methods to regrow tooth enamel which is a difficult undertaking as tooth enamel is not a living tissue. She collaborated with Sauma Prajapati and others to investigate matrix metalloproteinase-20, an enzyme found only in teeth which facilitate organized enamel crystal formation. Her team is the first to define the function of an enzyme for preventing protein occlusion inside a crystal. MMP-20 is released at a very early stage of enamel formation. MMP-20 chops up proteins during the crystallization of enamel. Together with other enzymes, it gets rid of ‘sludge’ so the enamel making cells in the body can add more mineral and make enamel, the hardest bioceramic in the human body. The team also looked an amelogenin-chitosan hydrogel which could repair early tooth decay … Read more

Does the Sound of the Toothbrush Brushing Effect Quality?

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A group  of researchers in Japan have discovered that how effectively we clean our teeth and how satisfied we are with quality of the brushing depends on the sound of the bristles scrubbing against the enamel.  The team used a tiny microphone in a modified toothbrush to ‘sample’ the sound being made in the mouth during brushing and to modulate it and then feed that sound back to a group of volunteers via headphones to see what effect the sound has on cleaning efficacy and satisfaction. The team found that if they manipulated the pitch, or loudness and frequency, of the brushing sound they could change the volunteers’ perception of comfort experienced and accomplishment of brushing. It was also demonstrated that if they gradually increased the frequency as teeth cleaning progressed, the volunteers felt like the process was more comfortable and at the end of … Read more

No Drill Dentistry Can Prevent Tooth Decay

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Research published in Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology has shown that the need for fillings can be reduced by 30 to 50% through preventative oral care. This means that many previous fillings are not needed when dental decay occurs. As such a preventative approach can be beneficial when compared to current dental practices. Dentistry has been traditionally practiced with the believe that tooth decay rapidly progressed and the best way to manage it was to identify early decay and remove it quickly to prevent the tooth surface form developing cavities. After the decay is removed the tooth is restored with a filling material. Fifty years of research studies have shown that decay is not always progressive and develops more slowly than previously thought. It can take an average of four to eight years for decay to progress from the tooth’s outer layer to the … Read more