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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."
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!
When I was 10 I tried touching a 9-volt to my braces. Nuff said.
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.
Your saliva is basic, not acidic. The bacteria produce lactic acid and lower the pH in plaques, ultimately resulting in tooth decay. The bacteria produce the acid because they metabolize sugary foods by glycolysis. Less sugar means less acid production by the bacteria in the mouth.
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...
The fibers in fruits usually wash away the sugars. Most processed sweets don't have any fiber, thus the sugar is deposited and stays there.
This is also the case with honey - it's sticky and cause cavities if used as a sweetener. But it's not too dangerous eating an apple/orange without brushing your teeth for a while.
As long as people avoid honey, processed foods with sugar or flour - you should be able to get away without brushing and have no cavities.
However, that lifestyle and this treatment isn't going to be an end to brushing or flossing. Even if the teeth are completely protected, your gums can get gingivitus/periodontis without the stimulation of brushing/flossing.
Here is a pretty good website that explains/backs-up most of what I said. I found it to read up on wisdom teeth extraction a while back:
http://www.doctorspiller.com/
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.