The end of fillings?

Xania · � #1 � 04-05-2008, 03:08 PM

Fillings could become a part of dental history if researchers in the US are proved right.

An alternative to fillings?

Scientists may have developed a way to make teeth repair themselves.
Instead of filling teeth, dentists would just need to rebuild them, avoiding the need for uncomfortable hole drilling.
Professor Sally Marshall from the University of California in San Francisco is hoping she has found a way to stop decay in its tracks.
It involves remineralising the teeth by trying to regrow the materials from which they are made.
The enamel on the outside of the teeth and the dentin on the inside are the main components.
When the dentin is broken through by bacteria, decay begins and the sight of the dentist's drill looms.
But it is this that Marshall's work focuses on reproducing within damaged teeth.
And the next step could be growing a whole new tooth from scratch.
Dr Andrea Ubhi, who runs a dental practice in Yorkshire, told Sky News she was cautiously optimistic about the development.

"It is possible that one day dentistry will be so preventative - decay will be caught in its early stages, and these remineralisation techniques will repair the damage.
"However patients would need to be seeing their dentists very regularly, perhaps 3 monthly for these areas to be detected and treated, and in practice, not everyone will have that kind of access.
"Also, there will always be a need to replace existing fillings as they wear out." she said.
Dentists have been using fillings since the first century AD when the Roman Cornelius Celsus suggested filling a decayed tooth with lint.
Materials used to fill cavities these days include glass, resin and long-lasting amalgam.
But London dentist Dr Paul Banner told Sky News there is an easy route to a filling-free future.
"There is no need for fillings if there is no decay. Better education and awareness of diet and oral hygiene has led to increased numbers of people who will never need their teeth to be restored.
"This may be some years away and be prepared for any therapy of this type to be expensive. Much cheaper to brush, floss and eat the right foods." he said.

https://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...311774,00.html

scorpiotiger · � #2 � 04-05-2008, 04:33 PM

Wow!!! a lot of what she is saying about how tooth gets decay mirrors what Gerald Judd says:

https://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...311774,00.html

Quote:

While regrowing your uncle's toothless grin from scratch is still a decade away, the ability to use some of the body's own building materials for oral repair would be a boon to dentists, who have been fixing cavities with metal fillings since the 1840s. Enamel and dentin are remarkably strong and long-lasting, and they can repair themselves. But as scientists are continuing to find out, dentin in particular is a remarkably complex structure.
The outer covering of teeth is enamel. The body makes it by growing tiny mineral crystals in a highly regular crystal lattice. Underneath that ceramic-like covering, dentin is like hard clay reinforced by fibers of collagen, similar to the way adobe bricks contain clay reinforced by straw fibers.
"The tooth is a beautiful structure," said Van Thompson, dentistry professor and chairman of New York University's Department of Biomaterials and Biomimetics.
But teeth, because they are made from minerals, are susceptible to what is essentially erosion. Acids, like those produced by bacteria or Coca-Cola, demineralize the enamel of the teeth. Usually the body is constantly repairing small amounts of damage, Marshall said. But when the body's defenses become overwhelmed, bacteria break through into the dentin below, and you get tooth decay, commonly called a cavity.
The acid produced by the bacteria eats into the minerals in the dentin, turning it mushy and useless. Normal dentin is twice as stiff as pinewood, but damaged dentin is more like rubber, which makes it pretty hard to chew with.
Marshall's newest work, which has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Structural Biology, focuses on regrowing dentin in damaged teeth with the help of a calcium-containing solution of ions (electrically charged particles).
By putting a layer of the solution on individual test teeth, Marshall has already been able to remineralize some parts of the teeth. The challenge is to get the crystals to regrow throughout the dentin.
To heal properly, the crystals need to form from the bottom of the tooth up to the enamel. Marshall isn't sure whether that's happening yet, but she is confident that she'll find a way to restore dentin functionality over the next few years.

Marshall says, like Gerald Judd said, acid causes the enamel to wear away.. not sugar. However, I guess the sugar feeds acid producing bacteria.

but.. Marshall is saying the body tries to remineralize the teeth all the time, and this is what Judd is saying, only he says that the glycerine in most toothpaste products keeps the teeth from remineralizing.

and.. guess you should rinse your mouth out if you eat any of those chewable acidic vitamins, like chewable vitamin C.

Arrowwind09 · � #3 � 04-06-2008, 03:12 AM

I have seen some pretty impressive photos of the regeneration of tooth enamel, the refilling of cavities with new growing enamel through the use of ozone therapy in the mouth. There are a number of dentists using ozone in dentistry, mostly in Austrailia, New Zealand, a couple in the US. I always thought it was bacteria that eat at the tooth. The bacteria feed on sugar and they create and acidic ph that rots at the tooth allowing the bacteria to penetrate further.

pinballdoctor · � #4 � 04-09-2008, 10:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arrowwind09

I have seen some pretty impressive photos of the regeneration of tooth enamel, the refilling of cavities with new growing enamel through the use of ozone therapy in the mouth. There are a number of dentists using ozone in dentistry, mostly in Austrailia, New Zealand, a couple in the US. I always thought it was bacteria that eat at the tooth. The bacteria feed on sugar and they create and acidic ph that rots at the tooth allowing the bacteria to penetrate further.

According to an article that I read, there is more bacteria in your mouth than people in the world.
People need to take better care of their teeth, because having a healthy mouth is linked to a longer life. That means cutting back on the sweets, and brushing/flossing regularly. It is also important to avoid fluoride. It kills bacteria but damages teeth by making them brittle, and causes small vertical cracks.
It would make me happy to see dentists STOP puting mercury in peoples mouths. They've known for 50 years that it is harmful, but continue to do it anyway. Just one amalgam filling can put the immune system under stress, thereby reducing the ability to fight bacteria and viruses.
Ozone should be used in dentistry, it is THAT GOOD. In the meantime, MMS does a good job as well!

Trevor75 · � #5 � 01-16-2010, 01:04 PM

Wow, wish I had known all of this, I just had 4 fillings done a couple of weks ago!

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