Contrary to what your dentist may tell you, you CAN reverse tooth decay, new research finds

A recent study brings good news to people who have a sweet tooth and those who neglect to properly brush their teeth. Scientists were able to discover that teeth have the ability to reverse tooth decay; meaning, traces of such tooth damage can be totally gone, thus doing away with the necessity to undergo oral surgeries or have tooth fillings.

What would this miracle entail? Simple, researchers said. Just take a single aspirin.

“Our initial research findings in the laboratory suggest that the use of aspirin, a drug already licensed for human use, could offer an immediate innovative solution enabling our teeth to repair themselves,” principal investigator, Professor Ikhlas El Karim, a senior lecturer in the School of Medicine, Dentistry and Biomedical Sciences at Queen’s University Belfast (QUB), said.

“Ideally, what we’re reporting here is that we’re hoping to be able to develop a therapy [so] that the teeth could repair themselves,” Karim added. (Related: Stop gum pain and tooth decay with sustainable dentistry.)

What the researchers did was collate previous research data to be able to point to aspirin as a compound that can induce the gene signature that is needed to make new dentine. Having done so, the QUB scientists treated stem cells in a Petri dish and identified “genetic and also material evidence that it can produce dentine”.

“The next step is to go and try and figure out how you are going to apply the aspirin to the teeth, to regenerate the dentine, and to replace the need for fillings. You need to put it [on the tooth] in a way that bit can be easily released over a long period of time, if you put an aspirin now on a cavity, it’s going to be washed away.

We are not encouraging that, there is a scientific way to go about this, so that we produce a final product that can be used by a dentist, not by a patient. The next step is to work with our pharmacy colleagues to try to develop a vehicle to put it in to the teeth, after the clinical trials,” Karim said.

The fact that aspirin is already a commercially-manufactured product is a boon to the dental industry’s longing to have this endeavor materialize.

“We are not really talking about 10 or 20 years time, it will probably be in the near future that it could be tried in a clinical trial with patients. This novel approach could not only increase the long-term survival of teeth, but could also result in huge savings for the [National Health Service] and other healthcare systems worldwide,” Karim concluded.

Aspirin, which is also called acetylsalicylic acid, is a drug that has been popular for many years now as an effective painkiller. It has anti-inflammatory properties, and is used to soothe headaches, menstrual cramps, and muscle pain. People can get it for merely a penny a tablet.

According to recent data, tooth decay is one among the most common tooth ailments in the world today; it affects a third of adults the world over. Also, it is the number one problem in the teeth of children who are residing in the United Kingdom.

Tooth decay happens when oral acids dissolve the enamel and dentine of the teeth, causing black holes or cavities to form within, around, or on the teeth. The oral acids are caused by bacteria that are found within the plaque – a sticky and thin film – that gets deposited in and around our teeth.

Fillings are usually used to prevent bacteria from totally ruining a single tooth by hindering the cavity from reaching the tooth’s most critical component: the pulp.

Normally, our teeth do not recuperate from the onset of cavities. If worse comes to worst, they can produce a thin band of dentine – the layer just below the enamel – if the inner dental pulp becomes exposed, but other than that they can do nothing: a large cavity cannot possibly be repaired.

Read up on more stories such as this one at Dentistry.news.

Sources include:

DailyMail.co.uk

BBC.com

Grape seed extract found to contain powerful nutrients that prevent tooth decay

Grape seed extracts can promote teeth durability and stave off tooth decay, a recent study in the Journal of Dental Research revealed. According to a team of researchers at the University of Illinois at the Chicago College of Dentistry, natural compounds found in grape seed extracts fortify the teeth’s dentin. Dentin is the dental tissue beneath enamel, which is mostly made of collagen. The researchers also noted that grape seed extracts may increase the life span of dental fillings.

Dental fillings can be made up of amalgam or composite resin. Researchers said dental amalgams are usually made of a combination of heavy metals such as mercury, silver, tin, or other materials. Dental amalgams are known for their low cost and long life span of 10 to 15 years or higher. On the other hand, composite-resin fillings are more aesthetically-designed, as the plastic and fine glass particles allow dentists to use filling colors that match the patients’ teeth. However, composite fillings last only five to seven years.

A federal report found that more than 90 percent of adults aged 20 to 64 have cavities. In order to address cavities, dentists take out the decay or dental caries using a drill and plug it up with a filling. According to researchers, resins need to bind with the dentin during the filling process. The researchers noted that the area between the teeth and the resin, called interface, remained a weak point that often led to the breakdown of teeth restorations. The health experts said that secondary caries and margin breakdown were the top causes of failed adhesive restorations. In addition, the research team noted that adhesive interface breakdown remained a major hurdle despite major advances in dental restorative materials. (Related: Strengthen your teeth the natural through these dietary choices)

“When fillings fail, decay forms around it and the seal is lost. We want to reinforce the interface, which will make the resin bond better to the dentin. The interface can be changed through the use of new natural materials…The stability of the interface is key for the durability of such adhesive joints, and hence, the life of the restoration and minimizing tooth loss,” researcher Ana Bedran-Russo said in DailyMail.co.uk.

The recent study found that a combination of grape seed extracts and plant-based oligomeric proanthocyanidins prompted damaged collagen to repair itself. According to Bedran-Russo, interlocking the resin and collagen-rich dentin offered better adhesion and did not rely on moisture.

The study was funded by National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.

Oral health status in the U.S.

Oral and dental health issues remain a major burden in the U.S. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revealed that nearly 18 percent of children aged five to 19 years old had untreated dental caries in 2015. The CDC also showed that more than a quarter of adults aged between 20 and 44 years had the same condition in 2015. In addition, CDC data revealed that 83 percent of patients aged two to 17 years made dental appointments in 2015, while 62 percent of adults aged 18 to 64 and 62.4 percent of seniors over 65 years did so in the same year.

Furthermore, the CDC noted that disparities in oral health continue to exist across ethnic groups in the U.S. According to the CDC, non-Hispanic blacks, Hispanics, American Indians, and Alaska Natives generally have the worst oral health of any racial and ethnic groups in the country. Mexican American and black, non-Hispanic children have the highest rates of tooth decay among young patients aged two to eight years old. On the other hand, blacks, non-Hispanics and Mexican Americans were nearly twice as likely to suffer untreated tooth decay compared with white, non-Hispanic adults.

Sources include: 

DailyMail.co.uk

News.UIC.edu

CDC.gov 1

CDC.gov 2

Why you must DEMAND made-in-the-USA dental crowns from your dentist

When we go to the dentist to repair or replace missing or cracked teeth, we usually don’t ask questions about what they put in our mouths. Because of this, tens of thousands of Americans could have dental fixtures in their mouths that contain toxic chemicals.

These metal and ceramic inserts, bought on the cheap, are imported from China and other Asian countries. According to dental experts, these cheaper products are often made in unregulated laboratories and can contain dangerous levels of lead and other chemicals — such as beryllium and cadmium — that could harm the human nervous system.

Due to their low price and quick service, many American dentists now favor these Chinese, toxic dental fixtures without passing the savings to the client. U.S. dentists have admitted using Chinese labs that charge about one-fifth of what local labs typically charge. As reported by the Daily Mail Online, dentists can take an impression of a client’s tooth, send it by express mail to China and receive a crown within four days.

“In the end, the whole system is profiteering. Any savings made by outsourcing the work to China are never passed on to the patient,” said David Smith, a board member of the Association of Dental Laboratories.

Lead poisoning linked to Chinese dental fixtures

Given China’s notoriety for cheap, fake, and toxic food and building materials, it doesn’t come as a big surprise that their dental fixtures can’t be trusted either.

At least four known cases of lead poisoning caused by Chinese dental fixtures have been reported in the United States. When these fixtures were tested in a laboratory, data revealed that some of them contained 210 times the acceptable amount of the heavy metal.

The toxic dental practice came to light when a 73-year-old Ohio woman became sick after a U.S. dentist installed a dental crown made in China. When the crown, among other crowns from Chinese labs, were tested, lead concentrations of nearly 500 parts per million were found. This is five times more lead than the limit set for toys sold in America.

While it is easy to pull lead-tainted toys off the shelves when a problem arises, it’s nowhere near as easy if the contaminated product is a dental fixture in someone’s mouth, noted David Smith.

Once inhaled or ingested, lead can harm the body in several ways. Symptoms of lead poisoning include high blood pressure, abdominal pain, headaches, memory loss, mood disorders, infertility, miscarriages, mental decline, and joint or muscles pain.

China’s quality control leaves something to be desired

Though the import of medical devices is strictly regulated, the supply of dental components is harder to control. While they all should carry a safety mark, it is often hard to check if the manufacturer used safe materials. Unlike the loose safety standards in China, laboratories in Europe or the U.S. get routine, unannounced inspections. They must follow strict laws to make sure crowns, bridges, and dentures are safe and toxin-free.

For the sake of your health, the next time you visit your dentist, be sure to ask where that set of dentures, bridges, or crowns came from. If your dental office offers steep discounts on dental work, chances are high the fixtures are imported from China.

Know that as a customer, you have the right to inquire about where dental materials have been made. If your dentist tries to dodge the question or he doesn’t want to give you a straight answer, then find another dentist who uses safe materials from trusted U.S.-based labs.

To be sure that no questionable chemicals end up in your body, opt for a holistic dentist instead. Is this term new to you? Click here to learn more about the benefits of holistic dentistry.

Sources include:

NaturalHealth365.com

DailyMail.co.uk

NaturalNews.com