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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."
well a floride coating is what natrually protects our teeth, thats why tap water, and toothpaste have this as an additive. Actually I just read that tooth decay is on the rise because many of us no longer drink tap water wwhich is forified with floride. From what I understand this is basically a electrochemical process which artficially bonds the floride to our teeth.
Actually I've noticed a disturbing trend. Now that more and more people have "good teeth" (because a larger and larger % of the popullation has been brushing their teeth all their life), dentists are "diversifying."
Whereas before they would only fix cavities, now they are telling me that I need a tissue graft from my pallet onto a receeding section of my gums, that I need cleanings every 6 months at least, and that more orthodontic work wouldn't hurt either. After getting second opinions, I've determined that most of what they are suggesting is unnecessary... Basically they are trying to maintain their revenue stream by going after more obscure and largely non-worrisome problems.
Yes this is based on my own anecdotal experience (and talking to others), so it's a highly skewed opinion. But it seems to me that dentists are "inventing" new problems to treat and deal with, since the core problem (cavities, etc.) has been solved satisfactorily.
One of the first things I learned while working at a solar power firm was the concept or use of anti-corrosion techniques, which just sounded amazing to me at the time. Essentially you can protect metal from oxidising by putting a residual electrical charge over it -- which you can get directly from a working solar panel during the day. Night-time hours would be powered by a battery that you would charge with the excess electricity from the panel accumulated during the day.
I'm oversimplifying it massively here, but cathodic protection is a priority application for solar panels and equipment in remote areas, such as pipeline and radio-transmitter installations in the high Arctic.
This treatment sounds like a weird and cool transferral of the idea to teeth.
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Death will come, and will have your eyes
-- Pavese
You are painfully on target. (Pun intended, I guess.)
I spent my Senior year in High School going through a series of "necessary" gingival grafts. The pain was excruciating because the Viccodin didn't do much for me and I ended up not taking it because it screwed with my attention span, which was bad when I was drilling myself through AP Calculus and English among other things (girlfriend included!).
It turns out that everyone in my family has "receding" gums. That's just how they are - small. The doctor made a few thousand dollars, I got one cool picture of my shredded mouth roof. Exciting. Thank you, profit motive!