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Fight Tooth Decay with Electricity
Erica Campbell writes "According to IsraCast, The Israeli Company Fluorinex Active has developed a new technology that can protect the tooth from cavities for 5 years with one simple electrical treatment. The company is currently working on a small device which, together with a gel, will impose an efficient ion exchange process through an Electro-chemical reaction in which fluor ions displace the Hydroxide ions at the outer layer of the tooth. This is intended to produce a new mineral layer with significantly improved chemical and physical resistance to the aggressive bacteria and the resulting acidic environment in the mouth."
Your teeth can be protected largely by not eating too much sugary food - your acidic saliva is quite capable of destroying a lot of bacteria. It's your gums that require care.
The nasties really happen below 3mm (anaeorobic bacteria). Even your denatal hygenist can't do much below 3mm (though you can have your gums reduced). How does the gel get down there if your dentist can't?
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
- Genetically modified bacteria to fight tooth decay?
- Vaccine for tooth decay?
Enquiring minds want to know.Your saliva is not usually acidic.
t est.htm
http://www.healingdaily.com/conditions/saliva-ph-
Ok so you found a site with an agenda: Eliminating flouride consumption, that claims it's bad. Right, of course they are going to claim that. Now I can find information from respected orignizations, like the CDC and NIH, that says it's not only fine but good for oral health.
n dex.htme sAndConditions/Fluoride/WaterFluoridation.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/oralhealth/waterfluoridation/i
http://www.nidcr.nih.gov/HealthInformation/Diseas
Now I don't care to argue with you about who to believe, I'm just pointing you that you are presenting only a source with an agenda. Have a look at what the CDC has to say, as well as others.
There are many primates that subsist almost exclusively on fruit that has substantial amounts of sugar. They live for 20 years and their teeth are fine.
The problem of tooth decay is complex, but this oft repeated lie doesn't get to the bottom of it.
I don't read or respond to AC posts
No. The natural coating of the teeth is enamel, which is largely composed of the minerals hydroxyapatite and carbonated hydroxyapatite. Fluoride ions in water or toothpaste can displace the hydrogen ions in the enamel forming fluorapatite which is more acid resistant.
When I was a kid, I was actually subjected to sitting in a dentists chair for 15 minutes while a mould with a concentrated fluoride gel where held against my teeth.
It looks like this company is using exactly the same type of gel and mould, but adding an electrical current to try and speed up the hydrogen replacement. I've no idea if this would work or not, but it gets my snake-oil detectors twitching just a bit.
In terms of discolouration, I believe the advice is that children under 5 should limit exposure to fluoride toothpaste (just use a bit) to avoid white spots on their teeth, apart from that, there aren't any problems.
Hate to nit-pick, but as far as I'm aware (could be wrong) but titanium does not bond with bone. Titanium is used due to the excellent mechanical proporties it possesses. However it has to be coated via plasma spraying with hydroxyapatite, which does bond with both bone and titanium.
Happened to have a lecture the covered this subject the other day.
Fluoride may protect your teeth, but it also robs your teeth of bone density by removing calcium.
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
You're wrong, chap, but you're also right. Eating less sugary foods saves the day. But your reasoning was wrong. Our tooth enamel becomes soluble at any pH more acidic than about 4.5. When our tooth enamel dissolves, we set ourselves up to get holes all the way through the enamel. As I understand it, our bodies have no way of replacing enamel once its gone. And enamel is what keeps our teeth from getting infected. Our poor gums are sensitive too, though, as you noted. But there's more.
So the thing to do is keep our moth more basic than 4.5 (normal is about 5, I think). But the sugars that you noted get digested by the bacteria in our mouth, and then the biproduct of the digestion is lactic acid. This increases the acidity in out mouth (or decreases the pH). If you brush well enough that you have no bacteria in there, then you can eat all the sugar you want to no detriment. But most people have some bacteria in there, so we need to brush it out. But there's even more.
Toothpaste is designed not only to be all bubbly and tasty, but to make our mouth more basic (raise the pH) as well. That's why there is sodium flouride in toothpaste. The flouride ion attaches to the free hydrogen ions that are making our saliva acidic. But keeping our mouths alkaline still can't save our enamel that's already gone. It sounds to me like this new technology maybe kind of can though...
As any chemistry geek knows a fluorine ion (F-) can replace a hydroxyl ion (OH-). In teeth, fluoride causes formation of hydroxyfluoroapatite, where some of the OH's have been replaced with F's.
The compound with the fluoride is slightly stronger physically, it also has better pK values. The pKa and other values tell us about the solubility of a compound in acids or bases. Fluoroapatite is less soluble in acid. This means cavities will not form as easily when bacterial start producing acid in the teeth.
Normally, fluoride gets into our teeth through diffusion. Fluoride is in reasonably high concentrations in saliva anyway, but topical application of fluoride (for instance brushing your teeth) will increase the amount of strong fluoroapatite in your enamel.
This method uses a current to influence the exchange of OH for F in tooth enamel. It is nearly similar to the copper plating experiments you may have seen in high school.
Fluoride is only bad if ingested in large quanties. Fluorosis, a discoluration of the teeth, is caused by problems with the enamel producing cells in childhood. It can happen if children habitually eat toothpaste. It will not happen with topical application.
Skeletal bones can be adversely affected by fluoride, but this also requires high internal F- levels. It is unlikely to happen with topical application of toothpaste.
Ripper: Have you ever seen a commie drink a glass of water?
Mandrake: Well, no I... I can't say I have, Jack.
Ripper: Vodka. That's what they drink, isn't it? Never water?
Mandrake: Well I... I believe that's what they drink, Jack. Yes.
Ripper: On no account will a commie ever drink water, and not without good reason.
Mandrake: Oh, ah, yes. I don't quite.. see what you're getting at, Jack.
Ripper: Water. That's what I'm getting at. Water. Mandrake, water is the source of all life. Seven tenths of this earth's surface is water. Why, you realize that.. seventy percent of you is water.
Mandrake: Uhhh God...
Ripper: And as human beings, you and I need fresh, pure water to replenish our precious bodily fluids.
Mandrake: Yes. chuckles nervously
Ripper: You beginning to understand?
Mandrake: Yes. chuckles. begins laughing/crying quietly
Ripper: Mandrake. Mandrake, have you never wondered why I drink only distilled water, or rain water, and only pure grain alcohol?
Mandrake: Well it did occur to me, Jack, yes.
Ripper: Have you ever heard of a thing called fluoridation? Fluoridation of water?
Mandrake: Ah, yes, I have heard of that, Jack. Yes.
Ripper: Well do you now what it is?
Mandrake: No. No, I don't know what it is. No.
Ripper: Do you realize that fluoridation is the most monstrously conceived and dangerous communist plot we have ever had to face?
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I prefer to eat cranberries than going through any form of electrical treatment.
Mmmmm.... cranberries....
w00t