Smile SenseA guide to your smile!

A nano sized film containing Alpha melanocyte stimulating hormone ( α MSH ) , which is known for it’s ability to fight inflammation can repair damaged nerves inside the tooth, making root canal a thing of the past.

A team of European scientist, placed α MSH onto fibroblasts, the primary kind of cell in the dental pulp. It not only significantly reduced inflammation but also increased the growth of new fibroblasts. Dentists believe this is a breakthrough that could revitalize damaged tooth and make root canal redundant.

US dentist Dr. Val Kolpakov has over 1,800 toothpastes ranging from whiskey flavoured to curry and bamboo.One dates to World War II and has a radioactive compound. One quarter of his collection is displayed in his waiting room at Michigan.

One of the items Dr. Kolpakov considers the most rare, is an English antique Geogian 1801 silver tooth powder box.Toothpaste was not invented at that point of time and tooth powder was used instead. Dr. Kolpakov bought it for £1500.

His collection contains donations from various personal collection, companies and friends from all over the world.

He is awaiting a confirmation of this unique world record, as a new category had to be created for this record.

To know more about this record visit www.toothpasteworld.com

Researchers at Alzheimer’s Research Center at Region’s hospital, Minnesota, US have recently demonstrated that intranasally delivered local anaesthetic ( LA ) can cause complete anaesthesia of the teeth, TMJ ( Temporo mandibular joint) and the masseter muscle thus removing the need to use a needle to deliver the LA.

The concentrations of LA where delivered intra-nasally are 20 times in the region supplied by trigeminal nerve compared to the blood or brain, thus suggesting that intra-nasal administration of LA bypassing the blood brain barrier to reach the targeted area. The trigeminal nerve acts as a conduit to transport drug from the nasal cavity to the orofacial structures in addition to the brain. The study also showed that absorption of LA into the trigeminal nerve mostly occurs in the inner walls of the nose and the maxillary sinus.

In conclusion, intra-nasal delivery of LA to the trigeminal nerve and connected orofacial structures may provide a more effective and targeted method of treating postoperative dental pain/anxiety, trigeminal neuralgia, migraine, dementia and vaccinating against diseases.

For full research text CLICK HERE

A group of dentists at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital has developed a process by which lost/ extracted tooth can be used as material for transplantation into sites where bone is deficient and hence required as a foundation for future dental implants.

They developed a one – week processing method to mill the teeth into tooth transplantation material. This material can then be injected into the gums and within 2 – 3 months the bone takes up this material and become part of the original bone.

This not only gives an advantage to the person who lost his / her tooth but also for his / her relative or family member. In such a case, a father for example can use tooth material from his son’s milk tooth, to be used as transplantation material to augment his own bone to facilitate implant placement in future.

Currently , bone from other animal or artificial bone material is used. Definitely this development is of immense  importance and can usher in a new era of future rehabilitation procedures.

2 boys in Vietnam has been born with no tooth ‘bud’ and hence will never have teeth to chew with.

Nguyen Trong Nhan, 6 and his cousin Nguyen Khac Thong, 9, are afflicted with this rare hereditary condition. Their maternal grandfather is also afflicted by the same condition. This genetic disorder runs only in the male side of the family.

Doctors at HCM City Dentistry and Facial Hospital ran scans on the two boys to confirm the absence of any tooth or tooth buds.

Such patients are fitted with removable dentures initially. Once their body growth ( After age 20-23) is completed fixed option like the Implants can be also explored. It takes a lot of effort on the part of the patient to learn to chew with ‘ false teeth’ as they have never used teeth in their life.

Researchers at Boston University, Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine ( GSDM ) links tooth loss and periodontal loss to cognitive decline.

Dr. Elizabeth Krall Kaye looked for patterns in dental records from 1970 to 1973 to determine is periodontal disease and tooth loss predicted whether people did well or poorly in cognitive tests.

She found that each tooth lost per decade, the risk of doing poorly increased 8 to 10%.

More cavities usually meant lower cognition too.

People with NO tooth loss tended to do better in the tests.

The findings should give the dentists yet another reason to prevent tooth loss and periodontal disease and encourage patients to do as much as they can to prevent dental diseases.

This study was published in ‘Journal of American Geriatrics Society.

Click here to the full study.

Tooth coloured fillings and crowns can now be made in a single sitting. This is made possible due to CAD/CAM technology that designs and mills custom ceramic restoration in less than 10 minutes.

The technology uses a:

• Digital infrared camera
• Medical grade computer
• Milling machine

Procedure:

The camera takes a optical impression of a prepared / drilled/ damaged tooth.This picture is uploaded to a computer. Once in the computer, 3D CAD ( Computer assisted design) software is used to design the restoration. The CAM ( Computer assisted manufacturing) automatically takes over and creates the restoration by milling it from a solid block of ceramic or composite.

This is followed by an in mouth trial to adjust any minor corrections. Following this , the restoration is finished and polished ( in case of ceramic, stains and glazes are added).

The CAD CAM fabricated restorations have a comparable fit to that of a traditional laboratory fabricated restoration. Hence such restorations save a lot of chair side time for the patient as well as the dentist presenting a win – win situation for everyone.

A new study shows that platelet-rich plasma accelerates healing and bone formation after tooth extraction.

Poor healing after tooth extraction may lead to bone loss, that may delay prosthetic rehabilitation and implants. This can lead to costly  reconstructive surgery or may just be irrepairable.

The study was conducted on patients who had their third molars ( wisdom tooth) extracted. One of the extraction site was treated with Platelet – rich plasma (PRP) while the other extraction site was used as a control. Patients were checked for jaw bone density, healing, bleeding, inflammation, pain and facial swelling for the next 24 weeks.

After 1 week – PRP treated site shows positive bone density compared to loss of bone density at the control site.

After 6 weeks – Bone density of control site reaches the level of bone density of PRP treated site that was after 1 week.

PRP has little effect on pain, facial swelling, bleeding and inflammation.

This gives an advantage to PRP treated surgical site as prosthetic rehabilitation and implants can be placed successfully early. This reduces waiting time for prosthesis or implants to 2-4 months from 4-6 months.

One new way to fix cavities without using a drill that had been initially released in Europe and now available even in the U.S. called ‘Icon Acid Syringe’.

In addition to skipping the drilling, the company claims that very little tooth structure must be removed compared to by conventional procedure of drilling.

Availability:

• Icon resin infiltrant – Proximal
• Icon resin infiltrant – Smooth surface

Indications:

• Early lesions on proximal lesions
• Lesions on smooth surface limited to enamel ( White spots after bracket removal).

Contraindications:

• Do not use on exposed dentine or cementum
• Developmental lesions or lesions due to trauma, fluorosis, hypoplasia or erosion.

For further reading, CLICK HERE

Image Credit : Wikipedia

In a recent study certain genes have been linked to increased caries susceptibility.

Researchers at University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine found that rate of dental caries was influenced by individual variations or polymorphisms in a gene called Beta Defensin 1 (DEFB1), which plays a key role in first – line immune response against invading germs. The results have been published in Journal of Dental Research.

For the study, researchers analyzed 300 anonymous dental records and accompanying saliva samples from Dental Registry and DNA Repository. Each case was assigned a DMFT score based on decayed tooth, missing tooth due to caries and tooth filled as well as DMFS scores, based on decayed tooth, missing tooth and filled surface of tooth. In general, cases with fewer caries have lower DMFT and DMFS scores.

Saliva samples contained one of the three variants, G-20A, G-52A and C-44G of the DEFB1 gene. Individuals who carry a G-20A copy has a DMFT and DMFS scores that was 5 times higher than people who had other variants. On the other hand, G-52A was associated with lower DMFT scores.

It is possible that presence of these variants may lead to differences in Beta Defensin’s ability to inhibit bacterial colonization. This could help find new ways to treat people who are particularly susceptible to dental caries.