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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.
Would this process affect the coloration of the teeth?
It'd really suck to lock in any staining...
500GB of disk, 5TB of transfer, $5.95/mo
However, when pressed, the company acknowledged the new device would be ineffective against pieces of broccoli and spinach.
><));>
Well, this is at least correctly targeted towards the /. crowd, most of whom only brush once every 5 years (whether they need it or not)
Go to the dentist and get a free shock-therapy session. This should help those with Dentophobia.
Luckily I bet I can improvise one of my one; all I need is an old lamp cord, a football mouthpiece, and some high fluoride gel toothpaste.
I Am My Own Worst Enemy
We'll see how well that 5-year warranty holds up after I'm through with it!
Sweet! (literally) Now I can just rinse with Red Bull before bed time and I'm set.
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
Everythings sounds crazy until you find out it works. Lots of people thought it was crazy to implent porcelain teeth with titanium roots that bond to bone... but it happened. AND they're not suceptible to rot.
- Genetically modified bacteria to fight tooth decay?
- Vaccine for tooth decay?
Enquiring minds want to know.FDA lobbying begins: US Dental Assocaition vs Energizer Bunny!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
When I was 10 I tried touching a 9-volt to my braces. Nuff said.
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.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Lord, Jack.
General Jack D. Ripper: You know when fluoridation first began?
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: I... no, no. I don't, Jack.
General Jack D. Ripper: Nineteen hundred and forty-six. Nineteen forty-six, Mandrake. How does that coincide with your post-war Commie conspiracy, huh? It's incredibly obvious, isn't it? A foreign substance is introduced into our precious bodily fluids without the knowledge of the individual. Certainly without any choice. That's the way your hard-core Commie works.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Uh, Jack, Jack, listen, tell me, tell me, Jack. When did you first... become... well, develop this theory?
General Jack D. Ripper: Well, I, uh... I... I... first became aware of it, Mandrake, during the physical act of love.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm.
General Jack D. Ripper: Yes, a uh, a profound sense of fatigue... a feeling of emptiness followed. Luckily I... I was able to interpret these feelings correctly. Loss of essence.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: Hmm.
General Jack D. Ripper: I can assure you it has not recurred, Mandrake. Women uh... women sense my power and they seek the life essence. I, uh... I do not avoid women, Mandrake.
Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No.
General Jack D. Ripper: But I... I do deny them my essence.
Credit to IMDB for the actual quotes. My memory of them was somewhat less than accurate. ;)
--
Sig nature
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
If city governments didn't buy this stuff from chemical plants to put in drinking water, they'd have to dispose of it like any other toxic waste.
It's not the city governments or plants that are doing this to us. It's the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. Duh.
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.
========================================
Death will come, and will have your eyes
-- Pavese
when in doubt, I tend to believe the group that doesn't have a monetary interest in the outcome, and fluorinating municipal water supplies subsidizes the chemical industry--guys who have influence and deep pockets. Second, flouride treatment is only effective when it's in contact with the teeth, actually absorbing it into your blood stream is unneccessary, if there's any question about possible adverse health effects, why expose yourself to something that's unneccessary. Third, fluoride has no dosage control, someone who uses hippy organic toothpaste and generally drinks bottled water is getting doses wildly different from someone who cooks with and drinks 8 glasses of tap water a day. Seems like a hamfisted dental hygeine policy to me. That said, yes, I tend to have faith in the CDC, this is just something else to consider.
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.
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...
it's a typo of flour ions. instead of getting cavities you make bread
if i'm not immortal, what's the point of living?
...te?
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!
The genetically engineered miracle bacteria ate all test persons.
Do you think anyone is going to listen to a Wonka regarding tooth decay?
Bizarre devices that add hardened layers to teeth seems like the wrong way to go. I want to know when the FDA is going to approve the modified streptococcus mutans bacteria they developed at U of Florida. Strep M lives in your mouth naturally. When it eats sugar, it excretes lactic acid. The lactic acid is what rots your teeth. The Strep M they made at UofF has been "fixed" so that it doesn't produce lactic acid. The way you use it is simple. They innoculate your mouth with the new Strep M and instruct you to eat lots of sugar. The new Strep M quickly displaces the natural Strep M. So far, tests show that the natural, damaging Strep M doesn't come back. No electricity, no gel; the major source of tooth decay is simply eliminated. More here
Conclusion: the Empire squashes the Federation like a bug. Accept it.
the dose makes the poison. how much fluoride do you think there is in tap water anyway? now compare that to the chlorine in tap water which is far more toxic. lest one forget, chlorine was used in WWI as a weapon.
"Fighting the global war against tooth decay is in the vital national interest of Great Britain," said Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the UK, as he announced the march of infantry on Nazareth, home of Fluorinex. "We're sure Jesus can spare a few chapels. We will stop at nothing to honor his sacrifice -- with our glistening white smiles, if necessary."
Reaction from the United States was guarded. In an apparent reference to the incident, President Bush repeatedly mumbled to himself, "Lisa needs braces? Dental plan?" while speaking to reporters today on the subject.
Asked if the United States would be taking up the British invasion at the UN Security Council, Bush said he always liked the Monkees better than the Beatles anyway.
Q: What did the comedian say to the crowd?
A: If I knew, this joke would be funny.
I prefer to eat cranberries than going through any form of electrical treatment.
Mmmmm.... cranberries....
w00t
Sometimes i get the feeling that the collective knowlege of slashdot could solve any problem, and adapt to any task.
Now, if we could only learn to get along...
Whereas comparing an analogy to another similar one is valid?