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Using RFID Tags to Make Teeth

Roland Piquepaille writes "If you live in France, and soon elsewhere in Europe and in the U.S., and if you need a dental prosthesis, chances are good that RFID tags are involved in the manufacturing process, according to this article from the RFID Journal. The tag is embedded by the dental lab in the cast which will be used to make the prosthesis. Then it is used to record the whole history of the crown, a process requested by a European sanitary regulation. Before delivering the bridge to your dentist, all the data is copied to a smart card that will be given to you. The company is also studying the idea to put directly the tag inside the prosthesis. Maybe one day, when your dentist installs your new bridge, you'll also be the owner of a deactivated RFID tag inside it. This summary contains more details and a picture of the RFID tag used to record the life of your next crown."

184 comments

  1. Wow by Skye16 · · Score: 2, Funny

    They really are trying to get inside our teeth!

    :O

  2. Regis, the million dollar question, is... by garcia · · Score: 4, Funny

    How long will my fillings tingle after I pull my head out of the microwave?

    1. Re:Regis, the million dollar question, is... by eu_neke · · Score: 0

      Assuming you didn't fry your brain in the process, probably not too long...

    2. Re:Regis, the million dollar question, is... by Zwets · · Score: 4, Funny

      Trust me when I say you won't have to worry about that at all.. :-)

      --
      One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say. - Will Duran
    3. Re:Regis, the million dollar question, is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, so you mean they melt? :)

    4. Re:Regis, the million dollar question, is... by mikael · · Score: 3, Funny

      How long will my fillings tingle after I pull my head out of the microwave?

      Only for as long as you keep your tooth capped with tinfoil.

      --
      Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
    5. Re:Regis, the million dollar question, is... by ondrasek · · Score: 1

      If you put your head into a microwave, the least thing you'd care about would be your fillings.

      Ondrasek
      --Most hotel managers simply do not understand that most people make friends regardless of lexicographical ordering.

    6. Re:Regis, the million dollar question, is... by serutan · · Score: 1

      I don't know, but maybe this explains why I keep hearing HBO since I had that crown put in.

    7. Re:Regis, the million dollar question, is... by sl4shd0rk · · Score: 1

      Wrap your head in tinfoil, you won't get the tingling sensation. Oh, btw.. what's the addy of your webcam?

      --
      Join the Slashcott! Feb 10 thru Feb 17!
  3. i'm an innocent victim here! by vena · · Score: 3, Funny

    i was attacked by a coked up whore and a fscking crazy dentist!

    1. Re:i'm an innocent victim here! by larrew22 · · Score: 4, Informative

      i guess the moderater has never seen the movie 12 monkeys... in the movie the feds moniter the time travelling prisoners by means of a tracking device in their tooth... Bruce Willis decides he's had enough and has an old fashioned home tooth pulling... the parent post is quoting what the freaked out pimp says to the cops after having to watch Bruce Willis do the deed.

  4. Old News........ by Jeffery · · Score: 1

    wasn't this going on in 1984? or wait.. that's the book... my apologies.. not to be a conspiracy theorist, but isn't this just a little suspisious to anyone else?

    --
    President Bush Supporter
    1. Re:Old News........ by salvorHardin · · Score: 5, Funny

      Well, Mr Smith, it appears that your incisors spent rather a lot of time somewhere in the vicinity of my daughter's IUD RFID tag. Would you like to explain this to me or would you rather choose a window?

    2. Re:Old News........ by stratjakt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, not to me.

      And if you ever need a prosthetic, make sure they track it the old way, with a little piece of paper with your name on it taped onto the cast.

      Then when you show up for your fitting, and they try to jam the wrong prosthetic into your face, maybe you'll see that a more accurate method of tracking may actually be a good thing.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    3. Re:Old News........ by Taco+John · · Score: 1

      I'm actually a little surprised this isn't in YRO.

    4. Re:Old News........ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      wasn't this going on in 1984? or wait.. that's the book...

      The book you are thinking of is the Bible. Mark of the beast and all that stuff.

    5. Re:Old News........ by ninejaguar · · Score: 2, Informative
      I am suspicious, and the next logical step would be to introduce a RFID-like device in the tooth. But, would this be practical? Not everyone gets caps and crowns, and there are simply better ways of keeping track of citizenry than implanting a bug at the dentist.

      However, this type of development is important to watch. Ignore those who disagree, as they are sceptical of sceptics and contribute to society in a different manner which isn't pertinent to subjects like this.

      If you haven't read 1984, or haven't read it in a long time, I encourage a visit.

      = 9J =

  5. American size comparison. by will_die · · Score: 4, Informative

    The 1 Euro coin shown in the real size image is just slightly larger then an American nickel.

    1. Re:American size comparison. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Now they really will start broadcasting radio signals on my fillings! AHHH!!!!

    2. Re:American size comparison. by jrockway · · Score: 1

      > Vote Kerry: He will allow medical experimentation on prisoners. All for your better health.

      Any references?

      --
      My other car is first.
    3. Re:American size comparison. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Vote Kerry: He will allow medical experimentation on prisoners. All for your better health.

      Any references?

      the Convicts for the Truth?

    4. Re:American size comparison. by will_die · · Score: 1

      Use of medical experimentaion on prisoners, children, and the unknown has greatly advanced science and medicine over the past centuries, even up into past 70 year. It was only with the ideaology that this was wrong was it stopped and limits were placed and enforced on human research.
      The loss of prisoners to experiment on has lowered the medical solutions that are available or has force large amounts of money and time to be waste on a cure that works on animals but not humans.

      So we have john kerry saying:
      "Here in America we don't sacrifice science for ideology. We are a land of discovery, a place where innovators and optimists are free to dream and explore."

      You might want to say that does not apply to humans sacrifice however he also also said that "life begins at conception" and has no problem forming new human embryonic stem cell lines, so how far is it from allowing that to the greater and proven benifit that medical experimentation on prisoners will provide? The only thing holding it back is out ideology.

  6. Maybe he will install a bridge... by IversenX · · Score: 5, Funny

    .. but there's NO way I'm letting my dentist near my routers!

    --
    With great numbers come great responsibility!
  7. Aliens did it first by emptybody · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Aliens have been implanting tiny tracking devices in teeth for years. These so called "RFID" tags are just humans using Alien(tm) technology.

    --
    comment directly in my journal
    1. Re:Aliens did it first by macaulay805 · · Score: 1

      Does this mean the "RFIDAA" will come down and sue everyone for infringement?

      Or maybe we can use this as prior art.

  8. 12 Monkeys by Weaselmancer · · Score: 5, Funny

    If you've seen the movie, then you know this is a bad idea.

    --
    Weaselmancer
    rediculous.
  9. Or worse.... by dmp123 · · Score: 5, Funny

    you'll also be the owner of an activated RFID tag in your skull.

    You'll need a tinfoil jawplate now to go with that helmet.

    David

    1. Re:Or worse.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That wouldn't be so bad, you could always use a robotic extractor to reach up your nose and pull out the glowing red hollow masher marble.

  10. This is so unfair by Guitar+Wizard · · Score: 2, Funny

    I think my teeth have the right to surf the internet...I demand that the dentists adopt Wi-Fi instead of RFID.

    --
    Two freaks, no foes. It takes absolutely nothing to make some people angry.
    1. Re:This is so unfair by maxwell+demon · · Score: 3, Funny

      Actually they should adopt bluetooth. Because it's not that clear that the dentist knows how to configure Wi-Fi, but a dentist usually knows everything about every sort of tooth.

      --
      The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
    2. Re:This is so unfair by Guitar+Wizard · · Score: 0

      I think your comment is way wittier than mine...you rock. I can't believe I didn't think of bluetooth. MOD PARENT UP!

      --
      Two freaks, no foes. It takes absolutely nothing to make some people angry.
    3. Re:This is so unfair by Vombatus · · Score: 1

      Actually they should adopt bluetooth

      And drive the toothpaste manufacturers mad?

      --
      This sig is intentionally blank
  11. Inventory won't last long by Nuclear+Elephant · · Score: 1, Funny

    ...with all the teeth in Europe that need replacing.

    1. Re:Inventory won't last long by DongleFondle · · Score: 1

      I guess its only funny if you're Mike Myers.

      I laughed tho. ;-)

  12. Personally by ObsessiveMathsFreak · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I would rather go toothless than have my teeth broadcast my whereabouts to snoopers, offical or otherwise.

    --
    May the Maths Be with you!
    1. Re:Personally by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But why do you think you're important enough for them to care about? The fact is that the vast majority of people are *not* important and the powers that be *do not* care about them!

    2. Re:Personally by pla · · Score: 3, Insightful

      But why do you think you're important enough for them to care about?

      I've always considered that response as a red herring... Technically true that, right at this moment, no government or corporation cares about me enough to follow my every move.

      That doesn't mean such information can't hide in a database somewhere for 50 years, until I decide to, I don't know, run for president or apply for a mortgage or something like that.

      "Records clearly show that the defendant came within 10 feet of a known terrorist leader on two occasions, once in Times Square, and once on the Boston subway."

      "Gee, we'd love to offer you insurance, but tracking data shows that on June 15th, 2007, you exceeded the posted speed limit by 1500mph, strangely vanishing from Newton, MA, to a number of points in Southern France over a period of 47 seconds. Oh, and as much as we hate to do this, well, you know the "mandatory incrimination" laws and all, so a customs agent waiting outside would like a word with you..."


      No one cares about me now. But someone tracking me in realtime doesn't concern me nearly as much as, say, an overly-zealous DA grasping at straws to close a particularly irksome unsolved crime ten years down the road.

  13. So what? by stratjakt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    RFID is for tracking things. Prosthetics (of any type) need to be tracked closely, since they're essentially unique to their intended recipient. If you happen to be someone waiting for one, you want it as quickly as possible. Anything that makes the process more efficient is a good thing for the patients.

    I know this is some slashdot "the gummit is comin to git us" FUD, as well as Roland Piqopiles contractualy daily blogvertisement, but get the hell over it.

    If you're so afraid, start brushing your teeth and flossing.

    --
    I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    1. Re:So what? by tomee · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually, this is RFUD, which reaches more people than ordinary FUD ever could.

    2. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "the gummit is comin to git us"

      That's "gubnit" ya varmit!

    3. Re:So what? by smooth+wombat · · Score: 5, Informative

      Prosthetics are already tracked with a number. If you get a knee replacement there is a specific serial number on the replacement part.

      Even breast implants have tracking numbers.

      While using a RFID tag would make things easier it is by no means a requirement that this needs to be done.

      --
      We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
    4. Re:So what? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're so afraid, start brushing your teeth and flossing.

      To the slashbots, this is pure crazy talk.

    5. Re:So what? by ethan0 · · Score: 1

      So.. a 9-digit serial number on a tooth? Sounds like fun. along with getting someone else's tooth because the guy sorting them misread that P as an F. (I don't have any great knowledge of how the current tracking systems work, but as a casual observer it seems like this would be a bit of a shortcoming.)

    6. Re:So what? by Catbeller · · Score: 1

      "but get the hell over it."

      No. "Get over it" is the derisive battle cry of bullying thugs everywhere, anytime. No, we won't get over it.

  14. Great Idea ! by MrRTFM · · Score: 5, Funny

    I sure hope they include data like:
    - my toothpaste preference
    - whether or not I brush 'correctly'
    - the tardiness of my payments to the dentist

    This is like a dream come true - having data imbedded into my FUCKING HEAD which drones can access at their will ... NO THANKS!

    --
    You can't expect to wield supreme executive power, just because some watery tart threw a sword at you
  15. Penny-Arcade by LewsTherinKinslayer · · Score: 0, Interesting

    Old school Penny-Arcade once more proves its value. Hehe.

  16. I don't think the writer understands... by PornMaster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Before delivering the prosthesis to the dentist, the lab retrieves the data contained in the die's RFID chip and copies to a smart card also fitted with a PicoPass chip. The dentist can then pass on to the patient. "The advantage of such a card is that if a patient requires another prosthesis for other teeth at another stage in his life, he can present it to the practitioner, who will retrieve all the data related to all the prostheses of the patient," says Cachia.
    Is it an RFID chip or a "smart chip"? Why would you "copy the data" from an RFID chip to a smart card? Isn't an RFID chip simply a form of serial number? If they're really just copying the data associated with that number, does that mean that RFID Journal writers aren't really familiar with what's going on?

    1. Re:I don't think the writer understands... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They are called RF-ID tags (with, or without the bar in the middle), but there is a whole family of those things. The "just a serial number" variant is just one if it. Other types are able to store received information, and release it when asked. Yet others are even capable to process received information.

  17. DarkLordSeth and twitter this is your story! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    DarkLordSeth, this is your story! Imagine, a government agency (for "sanitary purposes" yeah right) placing a RFID tag ("deactivated" yeah right) in your mouth! Now all you need to do is tie it in with 9/11 and George Bush and you are all set.

    Oh yeah, and twitter can tie it all in with Microsoft and I will feel right at home!

  18. Unbelievable by Pan+T.+Hose · · Score: 1

    It's time to buy stock of tinfoil producers, I guess.

    --
    Sincerely,
    Pan Tarhei Hosé, PhD.
    "Homo sum et cogito ergo odi profanum vulgus et libido."
    1. Re:Unbelievable by JaredOfEuropa · · Score: 1
      It's time to buy stock of tinfoil producers, I guess.
      Tinfoil + fillings = bad idea!
      --
      If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
    2. Re:Unbelievable by ForestGrump · · Score: 1

      Why? It allows me to conveniently listen to the radio wherever I go...without looking like a dork.

      --
      Is it true that more people vote for the winner of American Idol, than vote for the president? -Ali G.
    3. Re:Unbelievable by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Next step:
      RFID tinfoil!

  19. You know whom to blame by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act!!!

  20. CSI: Another bad episode by CybSirius · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How long before they identify a victim by the RFID tag embedded in his or her tooth with, of course, some whiz-bang 3D interface.

    1. Re:CSI: Another bad episode by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay... now zoom in on his cornea there. Enhance that. Great, now take the reflection off the wallet chain this guy's carrying. Ok. There's our killer, and the prescription of painkillers for his back. Thanks, that's all the evidence I need to see.

  21. Metal Detectors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Does an RFID tag contain metal?

    If so, this could become a problem at the airports.

    1. Re:Metal Detectors by cwebb1977 · · Score: 0

      I doubt it has enough metal to make detectors go off, or aren't most of us wearing jeans with metal buttons? They have more metal on them than a shark with very bad teeth.

      --
      www.weberseite.at
    2. Re:Metal Detectors by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe regular fillings also contain metal.

  22. Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Maybe one day, when your dentist installs your new bridge, you'll also be the owner of a deactivated RFID tag inside it.

    You just couldn't restrain yourself from adding that onto the article summary, eh? I'm not trying to troll but that is absolute FUD and fear-mongering.

    I mean, what is it with you guys? I use RFID all the time in a system I've developed to track employees. Nothing about this can be construed as bad but yet you still spin it somehow or another.

    We use them in our employee badges and have scanner points at all major doorways of the building. It helps us track when employees are in areas that are containing overly sensitive material and when employees just go goof off which a great many do.

    RFID only makes life better and I don't see how any of you can say otherwise.

    Now RFID in teeth? That is absolutely FUD. You know it will never happen but you just want to provoke some sort of knee-jerk reaction from the masses. These sort of comments don't belong to be with the article summary on the frontpage.

    1. Re:Sigh... by computersareevil · · Score: 5, Insightful

      This poster is claiming that articles about electronic tracking are FUD, and that RFID is wonderful, yet they post anonymously. Isn't there some irony in that?

    2. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because I am too lazy to sign up for an account? Because I don't need the karma stack?

      I'm not trying to hide anything so don't suppose that.

    3. Re:Sigh... by stratjakt · · Score: 4, Insightful

      No, it's just that posting anything but slashbot-approved horseshit will cost him mod points.

      Some people care about such things, I don't, waste your mod points on me.

      Hot News: "RFID used to more efficiently and accurately track things in a complicated manufacturing process in which efficient and accurate tracking is absolutely essential". OMG!11!!!!1! Sound the alarms guys!

      I'm also sick of Orwell references made by slashbots who've obviously never read any of his work, but that's another story.

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    4. Re:Sigh... by larrew22 · · Score: 0

      yes, but you do not implant there id cards into their skull!! if you had the ability to continue to moniter them when they left work, if they couldnt leave their card in the car, would you so adamently support that? or is this a troll? i do not understand your logic...

    5. Re:Sigh... by computersareevil · · Score: 1

      "I'm not trying to hide anything so don't suppose that."
      The point is you wouldn't have a CHOICE to post anonymously in a world envisioned by McCain, Ridge, Ashcroft, et al.

    6. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Again, how can you say this comment is anything but a knee-jerk reaction?

      What do McCain, Ridge, and Ashcroft have to do with RFID other than you have a great dislike for both it would seem?

      The Patriot Act is bad, but it isn't "come in your home rape your mom, stab your sister in the neck, steal all your brainwaves and thoughts with a scifi laser gun and make you vote for Bush" type of thing.

      So many people get overly worked up over such stupid things.

      I have a great suspsicion that like ADD and big egos (and bad manners) among the CS/IT community, paranoia is a very large character trait too. I'm just surprised I didn't notice it earlier.

    7. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I am one of your employees and since having the RFID badges implemented I continiously recieve notices that I spend too much time using the restroom (3 minutes), that my lunchbreaks are on the verge of being terminated because I have come close to the 30 minutes time limit several times.

      Hey, come on I knew Soviet Russia ACME Corp. was going to be different but you didn't tell me it was going to be this tight. You dictator!

    8. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No I would not support this and the truth is that it will never happen anyways and most intelligent people realize this.

      If something like this was ever attempted to pass you don't understand there would be such a major backlash by the population.

      There would be no way to get away with it and plain and simply it WILL NOT HAPPEN.

      The government is not made up with super-senators and millions of secret agents who never sleep and shit while standing up. Stop the conspiracy theories and stop this mad paranoia!

      The people who add that crap to the article summary are just provoking this hysteria and nonsense in the easily influenced (eg some readers).

      THIS STUFF WILL NEVER HAPPEN and realize that.

    9. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the government for lack of privacy and exposing the citizenry to danger. It works the same in any country.

      (modified version of Goering but still valid nonetheless)

    10. Re:Sigh... by The_Mr_Flibble · · Score: 1

      In other news there is a chip inside your monitor which has a unique number on it (for each manufacturer) which can be used to track your monitor (and your graphics card talks to it as well). Quick give me all your monitors.

    11. Re:Sigh... by computersareevil · · Score: 1

      Ya only read what you want to read, don't cha?

      See the article this morning about Ridge and McCain setting up checkpoints inside the U.S., and requiring you to present your identity papers, or else?

      Ever read the fourth amendment?

      See the articles over the last few months about how they want to add RFID, as well as biometrics, to passports?

      See any parallels between these and the totalitarian governments of the past and present?

      "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
      - Wendell Phillips (1811-1844)

    12. Re:Sigh... by YrWrstNtmr · · Score: 1, Interesting
      RFID only makes life better and I don't see how any of you can say otherwise.

      Of limited imagination, are we? You can't envision a scenario whereby it could be used maliciously? That it is not always for the greater good?

      I'm glad some of us can.

      It helps us track when employees [...] just go goof off which a great many do.

      Maybe you should hire different employees. Or maybe they should hire a different boss.

    13. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whereas you are decrying it right here and now. You're worse than they ever will be.

      You people are so hypocritical... only on Slashdot do we have an extreme aversion to tracking, identification, etc, yet at the same time there is such an outpouring of hatred for anonymous posters the likes of which can't be found anywhere else.

      You want me to log in? Screw you, Ashcroft Jr.

    14. Re:Sigh... by Rotund+Prickpull · · Score: 0
      The Patriot Act is bad, but it isn't "come in your home rape your mom, stab your sister in the neck, steal all your brainwaves and thoughts with a scifi laser gun and make you vote for Bush" type of thing.
      Looks like they got you already, d00d!
    15. Re:Sigh... by computersareevil · · Score: 1

      I think maybe you don't understand the words "hypocritical" and "irony".

      You have every right (for now) to post anonymously. But to post anonymously about how wonderful tracking everything and identifying everyone is could be described as ironic, hypocritical, and even disingenuous.

    16. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      WE like people like you. lat time to confuse the hell out of the "overlords" we had dan carry about 30 badges throught the building quickly. The boos freaked thinking there was a roving mob of angry employees.

      we also regularly swap badges when going to the crapper to confuse you overlord wannabe's.

      Me? I jam mine. it's wrapped in tinfoil all the time so you cant track shit.

    17. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And that is why I fired you...

      Thank you & have a nice day.

    18. Re:Sigh... by OverlordQ · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Dont blame the technology, blame the people perverting the technology.

      --
      Your hair look like poop, Bob! - Wanker.
    19. Re:Sigh... by computersareevil · · Score: 1

      Dont blame the technology, blame the people perverting the technology.

      Hear, hear! I agree completely. (I support personal gun ownership, afterall.)

      What I was pointing out was the irony of somebody anonymously posting support for technologies that will be perverted to prohibit anonymity.

    20. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There is only one thing you need to remember. Anything that can be abused WILL BE.

      ex. How about tracking people's time in the bathroom and using it as part of their yearly eval?

    21. Re:Sigh... by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      This is clearly different from tracking bags of chips. This is an RFID tag which could become part of your body, which you cannot microwave for obvious reasons (not the least of which is the potential for damage to the tooth by escaping gases when the chip is burned up, but the most of which is of course the stupidity of putting one's head in a microwave) and which could conceivably used not just to track your tooth, which is reasonable, but to track you, which is not. There exists today COTS equipment to allow reading RFID tags at distances of over 30 feet. And speaking of feet, I bet you think it's totally reasonable for there to be RFID tags in the soles of footwear, too? Guess what, that's coming, and then every sidewalk segment and floor mat is a potential close range RFID tag reader.

      Look, it might be paranoid, but the fact is that the proliferation of RFID tags is going to make people easy to track. Maybe you want your government to be able to track your every. fucking. move, but I am not at all interested in that kind of future. In a world in which the government considers the people as servants of the government, and not the government as servants of the people, I think it's perfectly reasonable to let a little paranoia help you make your decisions.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    22. Re:Sigh... by stratjakt · · Score: 1

      This is an RFID tag which could become part of your body

      No, it's attached to the cast that your orthodontist sends to the lab. The "embedded" in your teeth is pure slashbot FUD, and appears in none of the linked articles.

      Maybe you want your government to be able to track your every. fucking. move, but I am not at all interested in that kind of future.

      Neither am I, but I am interested in a future in which proper medical care becomes within the reach of everyone, and if this technology can help, I'm all for it.

      You're probably in favor of Palladium, and want P2P to be outlawed too, right?

      --
      I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
    23. Re:Sigh... by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      So it was your idea! Everytime I go to the restroom, I have to worry about how much time I'm taking.

    24. Re:Sigh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Last time I checked, my monitor was sitting on my
      desk, not embedded in my skull.

    25. Re:Sigh... by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      No, it's attached to the cast that your orthodontist sends to the lab. The "embedded" in your teeth is pure slashbot FUD, and appears in none of the linked articles.

      Just wait, I'll contant my representatives! I demand the right to have RFID tags embedded in my teeth!

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  23. The obvious question. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wouldn't Bluetooth be better suited for this than RFID?

  24. The tooth is out there! by flabbergasted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

    1. Re:The tooth is out there! by general_re · · Score: 1

      What good are teeth if you can't broadcast, Mr. Anderson?

      --
      ABSURDITY, n.: A statement or belief manifestly inconsistent with one's own opinion.
    2. Re:The tooth is out there! by Inda · · Score: 1

      It's a shame the story wasn't posted 32 minutes later...

      Two jokes for the price of one.

      --
      This post contains benzene, nitrosamines, formaldehyde and hydrogen cyanide.
    3. Re:The tooth is out there! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this RFID tagging to prevent crowns from being resold on the used crown black market?

  25. Interference? by Otter · · Score: 5, Funny
    Privacy concerns aside, I already run into interference issues between the three RFID cards I carry. They can be resolved with some rearrangement but that's going to be a lot harder to do when the door swipe at work keeps getting blocked by my fillings, hairpiece, penile implant or whatever else is next up for this technology.

    Although, at least I'll have an excuse for being late to work.

    1. Re:Interference? by stephanruby · · Score: 1

      What interference? They have very limited range.

    2. Re:Interference? by Jesus_666 · · Score: 1

      The solution is simple: Move the RFID tags from the cards into your fillings, hairpiece and penile implant!

      --
      USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
  26. 12 Monkeys? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    Gah! Next thing you know Bruce Willis is going to show up claming that he's from the future and and evil group called the Army of the 12 Monkeys led by Brad Pitt is going to destroy all of humanity. Wait, maybe he's right. Quick! Everyone knock your teeth out! That's where the tracking devices them future peoples use to find you!

  27. Stanley Tweedle by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They are just trying to hide the co-ordinates to the fractal core in your teeth.

    Ok, I watched Lexx

    Once.

    Better post this Anonymous Coward.

  28. Re:12 Monkeys (from the movie) by larrew22 · · Score: 0

    "I was attacked...by a coked up whore and a F*CKING crazy dentist!!"

  29. Inventory by hipbase · · Score: 1, Funny

    I would if I will throw off inventory at Wal-Mart?

  30. Secondary Reason by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    These RFID tags are to help continue the tradition of identifying incomplete/decomposed bodies from dental records. They coincide with the new government issue head seeking bullets.

  31. mmmmm....bulk eraser by Bandman · · Score: 1

    Yea, I think I'd take care of this asap.

    "I have no idea how my history keeps getting erased evry time you see me"

  32. you guys are complaining now... by WormholeFiend · · Score: 2, Funny

    but once they start making fake teeth that can run Linux, you're all going to fight for the right to dream about having them in your mouth.

    ^_^

    1. Re:you guys are complaining now... by thelexx · · Score: 1

      Hmm...32 teeth...Beowulf cluster...I'm dreaming already!

      --
      "Gold still represents the ultimate form of payment in the world." - Alan Greenspan, 1999
    2. Re:you guys are complaining now... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What about sharks? Sharks can shed as many as 50,000 teeth in their lifetime. Combine a beowulf cluster of teeth with sharks with frickin' lasers on their heads and you've got an unstoppable /. paradox.

  33. On a non-conspiratorial note by slars · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Putting my "1984" book down, I have to ask. Wouldn't this kind of technology be helpful in identifying unknown corpses? Or perhaps finding the murdered wife in the landfill?

    Just stirring the pot.

    1. Re:On a non-conspiratorial note by Phybersyk0 · · Score: 1

      Mod Parent Up!

      I agree wholeheartedly. It would be cool if they could build an RFID crown so that if WANT to be tracked when traveling to a foreign country (oh, maybe Iraq) they might be able to actually find where you are.... are RFID chips transmissive at all? Insurance companies could offer you better rates for having an implant even... it would be great...

      Also.. If you could put more information in them... say about a 1gb worth, you could store copies of passports, credit-cards, etc. inside just in case your real-world paper copies got lost or stolen... hell, you could keep the serial numbers to travellers cheques in there... it COULD BE AWESOME!!!!

    2. Re:On a non-conspiratorial note by LinuxHam · · Score: 1

      RFID is readable from a few inches. Its not like you can hover in a helicopter over the landfill and id a body buried in there. But once you find the body using traditional methods, at least you'll have an easier way to id it.

      --
      Intelligent Life on Earth
    3. Re:On a non-conspiratorial note by slars · · Score: 1

      I'm not suggesting finding the chip via helicopter. But, think of the crews that trudge through the landfill with the dogs, hoping to see something. Carry an RFID reader and swipe it over like a metal detector, and voila! You've found your target.

    4. Re:On a non-conspiratorial note by MissP · · Score: 1

      Just because something could be useful doesn't mean that it should be implemented, particularily when privacy can be compromised. I mean really, how man unknown corpses or murdered wives are out there waiting to be identified/found?

  34. Is anybody else reminded... by ALecs · · Score: 0, Redundant
    of 12 Monkeys?

    Now we really will have to pull out our teeth so they can't find us. *sigh*

  35. Look really close now... by b06r011 · · Score: 1
    ...and no, that is not a penis on the top right (just above the "U" and "R" of "EURO").

    it just looks like that because they left Norway out.

    just don't mention it to a finn or sweede...

  36. You all are reading this wrong! by Enigma_Man · · Score: 4, Informative

    The RFID tags are embedded in the _cast_ made of the teeth, in the manufacturing process, not in the actual fake teeth/toothwork itself! RTFA RTFS RTFAnything! Jeez.

    I don't think I've seen one post that understood this. The RFID is only used during the manufacturing process. The information about that RFID tag is given in a memory card to the customer at the end of the dental work. It probably contains information like when it was made, the tooth/teeth it pretains to, type of material used, etc, etc. Goddamnitreadthearticle.

    -Jesse

    --
    Nothing says "unprofessional job" like wrinkles in your duct tape.
    1. Re:You all are reading this wrong! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The card you keep identifies the cast (which they keep, with RFID intact), so if there's a problem, chances are they can make a new prosthetic without having to recast you.

      This is RFID being used to bring accuracy to a very complicated manufacturing process.

      I guess slashdot is for luddites now, they're afraid of the technology no matter how it's used.

      They'd love to post "government to track all your moves with RFID and violate all your rights!", but that hasn't happened (and wont), so they have to resort to the same sorts of FUD that Darl McBride spews.

    2. Re:You all are reading this wrong! by The_Mr_Flibble · · Score: 1

      Yeah I read some of the article but it's just not as funny if they aren't implanted in your teeth.

    3. Re:You all are reading this wrong! by YouHaveSnail · · Score: 4, Interesting

      The RFID tags are embedded in the _cast_ made of the teeth, in the manufacturing process, not in the actual fake teeth/toothwork itself! RTFA RTFS RTFAnything! Jeez.


      Read the fine summary yourself. This part, in particular:

      The company is also studying the idea to put directly the tag inside the prosthesis.

      I don't know about you, but I see just the mere suggestion of implanting what amount to tracking devices in dental implants as terribly damaging to our society. People have been worried for decades about dental implants being used to track them. Sometimes they think the implants might be installed by the government, other times by aliens. These thoughts are generally paranoid delusions due perhaps to mental illness or conspiracy theories and poor education. But someday soon it might actually be a legitimate concern.

      Is there some reason that they can't just slap a bar coded sticker on the mold?

    4. Re:You all are reading this wrong! by Exantrius · · Score: 1

      Let me try to explain this (now that noone will ever read this thread)

      1) A dentist takes an impression. sends it to the lab
      2) Lab takes the drs impression and fills it with "stone"-- either super hard plaster or some other such product-- to make a model
      3) Lab makes an impression off of first model, and creates another stone model off of that (to visually compare the resulting models, it allows them to see if there were any obvious problems with the original impression ****** THIS STEP IS WHERE THE RFID TAG IS USED. It is imbedded into the plaster or "stone" model
      4) Lab makes the porcelain/metal/whatever restoration, sends it back to the doctor with the original stone model (to show that it's only as good as the model sent)
      5) Dr places restoration. Done.

      At no point is the RFID tag necessarily sent out of the building it's placed in.

      "oh no, they're looking at putting it in our fake teeth"

      The problem with this, dental appliances tend to be made in a lot of different colors (at least 15 shades). A good dentist will match a crown or veneer or whatever to your natural tooth color...

      The problem is, anything off color behind it Dramatically shows through. There are dental seminars where drs learn NOTHING but color matching. Now all of a sudden the porcelain has different colors and percentages of translucency... Nope, drs would throw a shit fit-- I know, I talk to them daily.

      Metal? well, sure, they could put it under metal... except for that whole 44000 psi of pressure on the chip... And that whole "It's buried in metal, it isn't going to transmit unless it's under my chin, IF the chip hasn't already broken...

      between Porcelain and metal in a Porcelain fused to metal crown? More likely, but see porcelain, then see metal.

      Which leaves us with composites-- You know, the stuff drs use now instead of amalgams for fillings... They flippin' do it on site, they're not going to bother with an RFID tag in the restoration!

      I don't know the compressive or tensile strength of a RFID tag, but I can almost guarranty that the mouth is about the worst place you can put it in the human body. /Ex

  37. Maybe deactivated, maybe not. by morten+poulsen · · Score: 1, Troll

    > Maybe one day, [...], you'll also be the owner of
    > a deactivated RFID tag inside it.

    Maybe deactivated, maybe not. As a consumer, I don't like the idea.

  38. RFID everywhere! by z1d0v · · Score: 1
    It seems that this kind of news keeps appearing everywhere. I'm tired of this kind of publicity. Really, aren't these stories made up to create a hype around this technology? Everyone seems to be focused on pushing this to the market nowadays. It's like everyone wants to put an ID sticker in your passport, ID card, teeth, under the skin, clothes,... Enough already!

    I think we can do interesting things with RFID, but don't make use it, if I don't want to. Let's not give away too much tools to Big Brother!

  39. That's interesting... by Mold · · Score: 1

    You don't like having data in your head? Do neurons count as drones? If so, I can fix that for you.

    Hold still a second, this might hurt a little.

  40. I wouldn't worry too much... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Personally I find this a little hard to believe (and no, I haven't read the article - it's already /.'ed).

    My father works for a company that makes the casting materials used for making crowns & other dental stuff. As a result, I've had to listen to him explain the casting process in great detail many times.

    The process used is a lost-wax casting process - a wax model is made, then a ceramic mold is made from the wax model and the metal is poured into this mold. The problem with putting a RFID tag in (in any step of this process) is that very high temperatures are involved (both in firing the ceramic mold and in pouring the molten metal into the mold), so any RFID tag would probably be vaporized (or at least rendered inoperable).

  41. RFID in Schools? by BrentRJones · · Score: 1

    Anyone know of a school using RFID for student identification?

    --
    Help end the use of Sigs. Tomorrow
  42. Interference with life by pagal_paanda · · Score: 1

    You know, I would like to know that would RFID tagging ever going to end? With each passing second, these chips are getting smaller and cheaper. I won't be surprised if they start marking each and every item sold over the counter with these chips. Privacy?? Hum..... sorry, I don't know what that means.

  43. Obligatory by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ROLAND SUCKS!!!

  44. Mod parent down!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    off-topic.
    I am sick of people who are sick of things! Also, the correct way to refer to an Orwellian reference is by using that term rather than the author's name by itself.

    As far as the nature of the article itself...not every article posted on slashdot needs to have an 'earth shattering kaboom' attached to it. Some are just interesting uses for current tech, others are just joke threads waiting to happen, when I saw this article, I thought 'great, I wonder how many good jokes about listeners implanted in body parts there will be.' If you don't like the stories on slashdot, just leave, or complain in your sig, webpage or email directly to the editors, bitching about them here is lame, and a further waste of time.

    oh yea the bitch about not wanting to upset the 'group think' is wrong, appentently 'we' have gave that AC 2 mod points already. Considering that many poeple are unwilling to give mod points to ACs, that speaks rather well about the comment itself.

  45. In other news... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    French police continue their investigation into the bizarre serial-style murders in which the victims are decapitated and their heads are found in microwaves...

  46. Dude you are by Prince+Vegeta+SSJ4 · · Score: 1
    a total nutcase, completely deranged, delusional, paranoid. Your thought process is all fucked up. Your information train is jammed, man!
    • -Jeffrey Goines
    or is that just the tinfoil crowd?
  47. Don't bother trying to hide by ralphclark · · Score: 1

    When they finally come for you and break down your door, and they are sweeping your house with their scanning devices and there you are hiding trembling in the cupboard, your false teeth will suddenly pipe up: "HEY! HE'S IN HERE! IN THE GODDAM CUPBOARD!"

  48. Sensationalistic Garbage - Nothing to see here. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The article summary sensationalizes and distorts the actual content of the article. The summary claims that the company is considering adding RFID chips to dental prosthetics. This little sensational item is nowhere to be found in the actual article. The only place that RFID tags are being used is in the dental lab to track the work in process. If the summary had been true to the fact that this is just a very routine use of technology in a factory to automate regulatory compliance and improve efficiency and productivity, Roland's advertising laden worthless "technology site" probably would not receive much traffic from this submission.

    Why do the Slashdot editors continue to publish free ads for Roland's garbage blog? Is there financial consideration involved? Would Slashdot publish articles *submitted* by commercial sites like ZDNet or CNet etc.? The unrelenting flow of Roland's free ads is dragging down the quality and credibility and usefulness of Slashdot. It should stop.

  49. the owner of a deactivated RFID tag by martin · · Score: 2, Insightful

    honest we deactivated it and aren't using them for tracking people.....honest.

    Great, so I'll have no choice in carrying an RFID around (de-activated or not).

    pass the soup :-)

  50. why is it that... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Conspiracy theorists and dentistry go hand in hand? I mean first it was the fluoride in the drinking water; now, it's the rfid tags in the bridges. What next-flossing used to retrieve DNA to aid military recruiting efforts or something?

  51. Tesla coils? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Can a Tesla coil be used to "disable" RFID chips? It might hurt with the tag inside your tooth and it's not a good idea for people with pace makers...

  52. Eventual Exploitation by nurb432 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Forgetting the practicality of the 'ID in a tooth' for just a moment, your example doesn't hold water.

    Tracking employees with their consent while on *company property* is NOT the same as tracking individual citizens as they enter stores or just walk down the street minding their own business...

    It is not the technology that is the problem or its proper use.. its the fact it opens so many doors for improper use that is the issue.

    You don't technology will be used improperly? Get your head out of the sand and look around..

    And no, its not a matter of 'well I'm doing nothing wrong' it's a matter of 'its not anyone's business'....

    --
    ---- Booth was a patriot ----
  53. Bluetooth... by Sotogonesu · · Score: 1

    would seem to be a better choice than RFID

    1. Re:Bluetooth... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bluetooth would be almost impossible. it requires significant voltage from a battery that small. besides, then you'd have to charge your dentures instead of just cleaning them.

    2. Re:Bluetooth... by cloudmaster · · Score: 1

      Aside from that whole "bluetooth devices require an active power source" v/s "RFID tags are powered by the radio waves that scan for them" thing. I don't have a well-regulated 5v supply in my head with which to power a bluetooth device, but perhaps I'm in the minority here...

  54. Zap the tag. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If you care to read the article, the article says that they don't plan on using the RFID part due to privacy concerns.

    They also state that if they did use RFID, that would be for tracking from source to dentist, and that prior to putting it in your head they could ZAP all data off of the RFID, basically killing it.

    Heck, I've been getting zapped RFID's from stores for years. How often do I remove those from my items? Do I care? No.

    If they ever quit zapping them, a cheap EMP will do the job nicely. But if they quit zapping the RFID's when you leave the business, then many of their RFID processes these stored have developed would quit working. (That part could change, though.)

    1. Re:Zap the tag. by Weaselmancer · · Score: 1

      Dude, it's called humor. Check into it. Nobody modded me Informative.

      --
      Weaselmancer
      rediculous.
    2. Re:Zap the tag. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So how hard would it be to make a portable EMP device? Ex. go to Walmart and fry all their RFIDs at once in the whole store or some section...

  55. Roland Piquepaille again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Who is this person, and why must all of his submissions point to his weblog? He has submitted many articles to nanodot as well, for some reason.

    1. Re:Roland Piquepaille again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      because he has no content of his own (that would mean working for a living) he just copies other peoples articles (without permission) onto his blogsite and then sells advertising, depriving the original writers of income

      simple really, just like the suckers that click his links, some advertisers like dealing with petty criminals i guess

  56. just tags, or data? consumer copies? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Lots of interesting issues here. My mother-in-law has trouble with her tooth implants; the dentist working on fixing them is having problems because the dentist who did the work initially convienently 'lost' the molds of her original teeth when facing a malpractice lawsuit.

    Should consumers get full copies of their medical data as a matter of course if it's in digital form?

  57. Unlikely... by ajlitt · · Score: 5, Informative

    that the RFID could be included in the prosthesis. The first and second casts are made at relatively low temperatures. But the following step in making a porcelain bridge or crown (obviously these couldn't be embedded into metal and still work) involves a baking process for hardening the ceramic after grinding and for fixing the enamel layer. This is done at up to 1000 degrees C (again, depending on the materials), a temperature far above what most semiconductors can survive, even when inactive.

    Sadly, this is the first /. article that I can comment on using my experience designing porcelain furnaces.

    1. Re:Unlikely... by YouHaveSnail · · Score: 1

      Sadly, this is the first /. article that I can comment on using my experience designing porcelain furnaces.

      Perhaps, but it need not be the last. Indeed, I'd be interested in reading an article on designing and building a furnace or kiln, especially if it's something that I could do in my backyard if I somehow found a whole bunch of energy and time. There are a bunch of web sites that describe building small forges... a design for a high temperature kiln would be really interesting.

    2. Re:Unlikely... by ajlitt · · Score: 1

      It's fairly easy. Make a cavity out of firebrick (IIRC, it's some sort of compacted gypsum, or whatever the inside walls of fire safes are made of). A cube with a removable front or top works ok, a cylinder or cylinder-like shape with flip-open top will radiate more uniformly. Find a wire with high melting point and a reasonable electrical resistance. You then need to find out the length of wire needed to wrap around the inside wall of the cavity that will radiate the desired amount of power at the voltages needed. Use the wire's ohms-per-meter and Ohm's law (V=IR), plus some ad-hoc geometry to determine this. Then find some sort of high-temp standoff to suspend the wire inside the firebrick in a helical shape.

      Once this is done, you need some way of regulating the temperature. The way the furnaces I worked on did it was to use a solid-state relay to switch the current to the coil, and a high-temp thermocouple to sense the temperature. Use some hysteresis to keep the relay from switching too rapidly near the target temp, and keep in mind there is some thermal inertia to the contents of the kiln. Also keep in mind that at these temperatures, almost all of the heat from the wires is in IR convection, not conduction. Therefore, the surface of the wires should be bare and line-of-sight visible to the material to be heated.

      I worked on the firmware and electronic bits of the furnace, and not the mechanics of the muffle (the name for the kiln-like portion). See http://www.whipmix.com/7ovens/index.html for an example of some of the products I worked on. Mind you, it was VERY interesting when working on these as occasionally the CPU would die in a state where the furnace coil was turned on full time, leading to a possible thermal runaway (though, IIRC, the one time this happened unbeknownst to me the muffle wiring burned out before a 'meltdown' happened). Our furnace also often operated in a near-vacuum state inside the chamber, which was a whole 'nother barrel of laughs.

      Also, keep in mind that the voltages and temperatures in this system are dangerous! Trust me, you can burn yourself something bad on something that 'looks' like it's cooled. Get some sort of cooling rack and another thermocouple or one of those nifty IR non-contact thermometers to be sure. Also++, at these temperatures, most adhesives and epoxies liquify or burn, often releasing not-so-healthy byproducts. I'm not responsible for anyone else's foolhardiness!

  58. Or, alternatively, by ArbiterOne · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    You COULD just brush your frikking teeth, and avoid RFID entirely.

  59. How the heck by advocate_one · · Score: 1

    am I gonna de-activate this one if it's still active??? Sticking my head in the microwave won't work as you've got to close the door before the magnetron can power up...

    --
    Donald 'Duck' Dunn: We had a band powerful enough to turn goat piss into gasoline.
    1. Re:How the heck by mikechant · · Score: 1

      Sticking my head in the microwave won't work as you've got to close the door before the magnetron can power up...

      If you're that keen to try the experiment, I'm sure a screwdriver in the lock mechanism will allow you to microwave your head with the door open. Please set up a webcam first though so we can all watch (purely in the interests of science of course).

    2. Re:How the heck by Meostro · · Score: 1

      Turn in your geek card, right now! If you don't know how to make your microwave work without closing the door (or haven't destroyed at least two microwaves attempting to do exactly that), you're outta the club.

    3. Re:How the heck by Fishstick · · Score: 1

      Sounds like an idea for an upcoming MythBusters episode.

      Next time on MythBusters: Adam visits the dentist and gets an implant with a timy tracking device. The team then tries various ways to block or disable the chip. Will tinfoil in Adam's hat do the trick, or will Jamie's more radical plan to alter a microwave oven be successful!? Tune in next week!

      Heh, didn't they hint about putting a poodle in a microwave once?

      http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/legends/bl-p oodle.htm

      A friend of a friend had a grandmother who was a little bit "dotty." One day, Grandma had just bathed her miniature poodle, Pierre, and was about to towel-dry him when the phone rang. It was her daughter, reminding her that they had arranged to meet for lunch a half hour earlier. Grandma apologized for being late and said she'd be there as quickly as she could.

      As she began towel-drying Pierre, it dawned on her that there was a quicker way to do it: the microwave. So she put her beloved pet inside the oven, set the dial to "defrost" and switched it on.

      A half a minute later, as Grandma was donning her coat to leave, she heard a muffled explosion in the kitchen.

      Pierre the poodle was no more.

      --

      There is much cruelty in the universe, John.
      Yeah, we seem to have the tour map.

  60. possible good use for RFID? by kirkjobsluder · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Granted, the original post got some of the facts wrong, but the knee-jerk reactions here are bothering me.

    Having had more than my share of experiences within the health system lately, I'd gladly accept the risk of being bleeped by a yahoo on the street to reduce the very real risk of misdiagnosis in an emergency room. If I need to go into the emergency room, I want the team to know in less than a minute the make, model, and date of manufacture of any prosthetics I have implanted, cross-indexed with any reports of trouble with those specific prosthetics.

    Seriously folks, there are occasions when being able to instantly identify an object by waving a wand within 6 inchs is a good thing.

  61. How do you pronounce RFID ? by rokka · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who reads RFID as:
    "Read the Fucking ID"

    --
    I could be wrong. I'm always wrong...
    1. Re:How do you pronounce RFID ? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes, as a matter of fact, you are.

  62. Glad to hear it by JeffTL · · Score: 1

    if it reduces the risk of getting the wrong set of dentures. I have some problems with RFID in passports (due to the possibility of thieves and terrorists abroad getting hold of a sensitive scanner and figuring out who's an American) but using RFID in the dental prosthetic production process makes perfect sense, as long as nothing dangerous leaks out of the prosthesis because of such.

  63. Oh yeah? by iworm · · Score: 1

    I had two crowns fitted a few weeks ago in France, and I didn't get any RFID-card given to me... So I'm not sure how far ahead of reality this info is.

    (This post comes to you from an aging. French-resident /.er)

  64. Why use a prosthetic tooth when... by mark-t · · Score: 1

    ... you will be able to regrow a missing adult tooth?

  65. RFIDs only read from a few inches? Yah, right by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Remember a couple of years ago about the ability to read computer screens from a van on the street? I wouldn't put it beyond the capability of NRO birds such as LaCrosse to do this.

    With a sufficient antenna, I don't see why it couldn't be read from quite some distance.

  66. The pun is the lowest form of wit. (en/tee) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    achtung nein getexten

  67. nice. a little more tech in my head. by luciensims · · Score: 1

    Sweet. I've already got a titanium bolt in my jaw. I wish they'd hurry up and start using the RFID tags in the crowns themselves. I don't care if it gets burned in the kiln before it gets to me -- I'm getting one in a few months, and I'd love to have more weirdo things show up in my head in an x-ray.

    I've got a wide-format x-ray of my entire skull, and display it proudly. My titanium bolt is the best part. :-)

  68. How can we fry a RFID tag? by acz · · Score: 1

    If we are gonna get RFID tags everywhere including
    implants.. we better learn fast how to disable them.

  69. This is only a drill. Had it been a real emergency by kjcole · · Score: 1

    It seems that this could become a rather thorny crown...

    We could have a new branch of the armed services: Army, Navy, Dentistry... fighting the War on Cavities, and the Gum War -- a.k.a. Dessert Storm.

    And think about those "crazy" guys on the street ranting about the CIA transmitters in their teeth...

  70. Not news by nuggz · · Score: 1

    RFID tags are used all over the place. Any time you want good traceability of a process you need to put tracking numbers on or with the goods.
    Scanning is okay, but a bit trouble prone, RF tags are easy and less picky about the environment you're in.

    I'd bet that many of the items you already own used RFID tags, you just don't konw it.

  71. Is this a ripoff or a template? by Meostro · · Score: 1


    The header of this fella's article is the same as groklaw... is that a template or a blatant ripoff?

  72. bunk, bunk, bunk by Blitzenn · · Score: 1

    This is so much bunk that I have to just sit back and laugh. It's simply not true. Don't believe everything you read. This one is really bunk. The first tip should be that the person doesn't know the difference between a crown, a bridge or a denture.

  73. Lard (Ministry/Jello) sung about this in 1990!! by cimmerian · · Score: 1

    This story completely reminded me of a song by Lard (Jello Biafta & Ministry) about how the government is tracking us by our teeth.

    CAN GOD FILL TEETH?

    Don't ask me why But I was walking down the streets Of Fairfax, California
    And I saw this flyer hangin' On a telephone pole, and it said CAN GOD FILL TEETH?

    For a $10 "donation" You could see silver fillings turn To gold and other "supernormal dental happenings."
    New caps! Filled cavities! Bring a Flashlight and a mirror and observe

    But wait a minute Didn't I just read
    About how the cops are getting parents
    To plant bugging devices In their kids' teeth
    So if they disappear they can track 'em
    Before they wind up on the backs of milk cartons
    And all that

    And didn't I read That these devices can go two-way And everything that I do or say
    Is all goin' on tape somewhere right now
    Planted in my cavities
    And they didn't even tell me no wonder every bad thing
    In and out of my mouth Keeps winding up on my employment record

    All those fillings All those crowns
    I'll show them Who's the boss of my big mouth

    Where's the pliars
    God dammit! Where's the pliars?!?
    Wilma! Where'd you put my electric drill
    This is all coming out now-TODAY!

    CHORUS
    Agh! Agh! Agh!
    Agh! Agh! Agh!
    Agh! Agh! Agh!

    Must be some kind of conspiracy
    The whole world's a God damn conspiracy
    Look anywhere long enough, you're gonna find a conspiracy
    Man, LIFE is a conspiracy!

    CHORUS

    Needlenose Up my nose
    -Agh!-
    Where did all these wires come from?
    How far up into my skull do they go
    I pull out more and more copper spagetti

    How'd my Weekly World News get all wet?
    God damn fishsticks melted again
    What are they trying to do to me?
    No secrets in the land of the free!

    There no one's gonna tell me what to do
    It's worth eating baby food The rest of my life
    To be a free man Bastards
    Probably wouldn't understand me anyway

  74. This makes me think of Real Genius by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    They put a speaker in this guys tooth and pretended they were God talking to him.

    Hello: this is big brother, and I'M IN YOUR MOUTH!

  75. That's ok.. by tobe · · Score: 1

    There's really not much call for that kind of dental work over this side of the pond..

    *british smile*

  76. New Teeth from old RFID tags! by lcsjk · · Score: 1

    Yep, folks, that's it in a nutshell. Mostek purchased a few million ceramic boats for their new chip that will be used in some sort of RF transponder. They are packaged in the traditional white ceramic package for flatpacks licensed from Radiation Incorporated. They have been sent to a polishing tumbler and are very bright and shiney. If anyone knows of a potential use for these, they are available at a very low cost.

  77. Time Travel by bill_mcgonigle · · Score: 1

    People have been worried for decades about dental implants being used to track them. Sometimes they think the implants might be installed by the government, other times by aliens....Is there some reason that they can't just slap a bar coded sticker on the mold?

    If they did that they couldn't find you and pull you back through time.

    --
    My God, it's Full of Source!
    OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
  78. Terrorists and privacy concerns by geoffspear · · Score: 1

    Great... now if terrorists want to find people with fake teeth to kill, they'll just need an RFID scanner.

    --
    Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
  79. Factual Errors by Biedermann · · Score: 1

    Unless some major development in dental materials just sneaked by my department, crowns and bridges are still cast at temperatures well above 1000C.
    So, yes, you will have a "deactivated" RFID chip in your crown/bridge/cast partial.
    But since it is completely embedded in metal, nobody would notice anyway, I assume (got no idea about effective shielding of RFID equipment, I have to admit).

    In dentures (made from acrylic resin) it would work. But the EU directive (as can be read in the FA) does NOT require RFID-tagging as the wording of the /. article might suggest to some.
    The required records are generated along with the invoice by modern laboratory software, so why any lab would invest in RFID technology is beyond me.

    But electronics in teeth sounds cool, anyway.

  80. Computerised Milling Machine at your dentist by billstewart · · Score: 1
    I recently had a crown built and installed, and my dentist had a new milling machine in his office that built the tooth while I waited, which lets you get everything done in one visit. Unlike the previous process, where the dentist makes a cast, sends it off to a milling-machine lab, puts a temporary crown on your tooth, and a week or two later the crown is done and you go back and get it installed, the dentist scans your tooth into a computer, which tells the milling machine what to make. No need for RFID or other tracking, because the dentist is working on one of these at a time and knows which patient is getting a crown vs. which patient is getting their teeth cleaned or xrayed. (And the XRays are now hi-res digital too :-)

    Being a geek, I of course had to go watch the machine. It starts with an oblong block of tooth material and has a couple of spinning files that grind on the tooth. However, after a minute or two of position-calibrating, it started spraying water and became impossible to see anything, so I went back to the chair and breathed nitrous until the tooth was ready to install.

    In addition to being RFID-less, and single visit, it's able to make the crown in shapes that fit better to your tooth's surface, without the need for a post or the various other surface shapes that you used to need to get the crown to attach; my dentist said that the shaping the new technology uses goes against everything he learned in dental school, but he's done a few hundred of these by now and they work pretty well (as well as amortizing his machine cost.)

    --

    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  81. Re:Personally... Talk about...sinking your teeth by davidsyes · · Score: 1

    and TEETHING PAINS!

    Imagine if all of newborns, instead of having only their foot and hand prints taken also have a clamp put on their gumline. Of course, as they grow up, the clamp could either cause a hell of a lot of teeting, uuumm, teething pains, or the clamp could simply embed itself into the bone under the flesh/gums. This would produce one hell of a dillemma for those trying to remove the device. They could probably, however, irradiate the thing.

    But, if the purpose of the clamp is not primarily to transmit or respond radio waves but instead illuminate itself as the chomper walks past an x-ray transceiver of some sort.

    OTOH, imagine intel agents with these things embedded. If they grant the agent access to many sensitive areas and documents, you could say:

    "Sink your TEETH into THAT pile of data..."

    --
    Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
  82. I'll tell you what. by jbn-o · · Score: 1

    Good for you. Bullies thrive on getting you to do self-censorship so they don't have to work so hard.

    By the way, the parent's overrated post seems to leave out the main feature of RFID, remote readability. Reading IDs used to require direct physical access to the prosthetic in question. Now it can be done remotely and in secret.

    It's not reasonable to walk up to a woman with breast implants and ask her to rip the implants out of her breasts so you can examine the ID code. But with a signal that can be read remotely, anyone with an RFID scanner can get this information without the subject's knowledge. She becomes trackable. As RFID scanners become cheaper, setting up a network of them becomes viable just so people can be tracked as they make their way around town (or the country, depending on the size of the scanner deployment).

    It's not about the "gummint" coming to get us, it's about the private sector doing the invasive privacy-taking work for anyone who is willing to pay. This could be the government, or it could be a network of privately-run databases filled with possibly inaccurate information on which big decisions will be based (people's health care in the US, and hiring potential, to name a couple). And free market supporters think this is okay because with enough people participating in this dot-eat-dog way, somehow magically things problems work themselves out.

  83. all those old jokes about fillings that get radio by museumpeace · · Score: 1

    reception were a lot funnier when they weren't true.

    --
    SLASHDOT: news for people who can't concentrate on work or have no life at all and got tired of yelling back at the TV.
  84. From my cold dead jaw by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They just wish Osama had an RFIDed tooth. But when pliers are outlawed only outlaws will have pliers.

  85. 12 monkeys anyone? by Recovering+Anonymous · · Score: 1

    Oddly reminiscent of 12 monkeys. I just hope one day I don't end up in a sleazy hotel prying my teeth out with some pimps switch blade so the "man" can't track me any more.

    --
    There's no shame in being a pariah. -Marge Simpson
  86. Toothpaste Commercial by LordRPI · · Score: 1

    "Brush your teeth kids, or we'll know exactly where to find you!"

  87. I, for one... by gtkuhn · · Score: 1

    I, for one, welcome our new dental overlords.

  88. Because they use the same CMS: Geeklog by cheros · · Score: 1

    Both sites are probably built from the same popular Content Management System Geeklog".
    You can play with a number of them at OpenSource CMS.

    You are affected by reading too much RIAA, SCO and Microsoft coverage: not everything looking similar is theft or ripoff ;-).

    --
    Insert .sig here. Send no money now. Owner may sue, contents will settle. Batteries not included.
  89. More than meets the eyetooth by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 1

    Sticking your head in a microwave: it's not just for getting a tan anymore. /mashed potatoes can be your friends

    --
    Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?