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Plasma Needle to Replace Dentist's Drill
dylanduck writes "From the New Scientist Tech article: "Sticking a needle with a flaming plasma tip into your mouth may not at first strike you as much of an improvement on conventional dentistry. However, the plasma needle, which is cold and painless to the touch, could be just the panacea we have been waiting for.""
so to speak?
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
It seems that the other promising uses such as killing cancerous cells, triggering programmed cell death, etc., are described as "surgery without the needle".
S
To me, it seems like the pain involved with getting cavities filled is due to the high frequency vibrations caused by the drill, not the actual drilling itself. While I have my reservations about having a plasma tip stuck into my mouth, I guess I'd be willing to give it a go.
Of course, I don't plan on having any more cavities, so...
"You will pay for your lack of vision..." - Emperor Palpatine to Ray Charles
This "plasma needle" apparently will be good at killing bacteria and surgical cuts. It does use Nitric Oxide to function however, which is poisonous to inhale.
"And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the World"
1 John 4:14
I was scared to go to the dentist BEFORE they had lightsabers...
Ride the skies
Lets hope the power control software isn't buggy and doesn't run on Windows (okay okay I'm karma whoring now!). I would hate to have my head blown off by a dentist sporting a phased plasma drill in the 40 watt range. Sounds far fetched but Canada's Therac-25 radiation therapy machine zapped some cancer sufferers killing three. I seem to recall there was a similar failure with a laser surgery machine in France which blinded some people but I couldn't find a reference, the French probably covered it up.
This invention sounds great if it truly is painless.
:(
I'm one of the people that don't get numb from (Novocaine) shots
Reason #32767 not to use VB6: Integers are 2 bytes... Think about it!
The worst part of having my mouth operated on was the taste of burning flesh from the laser's cauterizing sticking around for days. This makes me wonder if something like this plasma needle could forego the one side effect that isn't easily averted with things like painkillers.
do you know squarepusher?
Actually, the thing most people fear about the dentist is needles-in-the-mouth. They're an uncomfortable and sometimes shockingly painful experience (depending on the dentist and the location of the injection), and it's the act of deliberately subjecting yourself to pain that gets a lot of people worked up. All the other fears tend to be associative.
Root-canal and other invasive surgery notwithstanding (and I'm going through a lot of that right now, thank you very much), if this technology can allow minor surgery - fillings, mainly - to be undertaken without needles, I daresay it'll be a brilliant breakthrough. If the patient feels confident they are not going to feel pain, they won't be (as) afraid.
That being said, my latest dentist is a sodding genius, who managed to perform a re-root-treatment without anaesthetic, and without pain, within an hour.
Meta will eat itself
Anyone remember the Family Guy Parody of Star Wars where Luke is doing Laser Eye Surgery with his lightsaber?
Don't know about you but that pretty much turned me off from anything with "plasma" and "operation" in it.
I keep telling myself I'm not the desperate type.
I'm just in it for the gas!!
Is it safe?
*turns on plasma needle*
Is... it... safe?
It was a joke! When you give me that look it was a joke.
Obi-wan: "Use the force Luke"
Luke: "Really? Cause I was just gonna.."
Obi-wan: "Use..use the force. Just use the force."
Luke: "Well alright."
Lady sitting in chair with lightsaber sticking through her head: "AAAAAHHHHH!"
This article must be entitled as "Dentist's Drill Killer", I think 8)
Hide your files and folders from others!
Flaming plasma in my mouth vs a Drill. I think I'll stick with the drill.
http://www.thirdrake.com - Best Webcomic of all time.
FTFS: Sticking a needle with a flaming plasma tip into your mouth
Sounds like it's time for a new hi-tech remake of the Marathon Man (1977).
---- It won't be as bad as you fear or as good as you hope, but it will take twice as long as you plan.
Will it still have that "WHIIIIIRRRRR" sound?
:).
That is most likely the number one most feared sound in America. Not a police siren. Not a gun shot. Not a cry of pain. The dentist's drill.
As a kid, there was nothing like that sound to make me remember to brush my teeth (well, for a few days, at least.)
Even as an adult, the sound makes me cringe whenever I go to the dentist (which, granted, hasn't been for a few years
I recently had a minor cavity "sandblasted" out and filled with no anathesia or shots.
Only took a brief moment and was quite painless. Sitting in the chair for 10 minutes prior listening to the machine run a pump to keep the pressure level was the worst part. It ran in cycles of air compressor running, then listening to air "leaking" out, then running again.
I think that could replace water torture if used for an extended period.
I only look human.
My mother is a halfling and my dad is an ogre, so that makes me an Ogreling
Two close in-laws have had major dental problems, and have avoided it for years, decades even.
One of them got to a point where she couldnt eat properly, and was FORCED to goto the dentist.
I don't know what was worse, the pain she experienced from remediation work required, or the dental bill - (around AUS $18,000).
Major reconstructive surgery could of been avoided if she went when her problems first arose.
So heres a lesson kids - when you need to go, GO!
It's the DENTIST.
It's a NEEDLE.
It's not normal to have needles stuck into your MOUTH.
Therefore... it's still going to friggin' HURT.
The problem with socialism is that they always run out of other people's money. - Margaret Thatcher
sure the plasma needle sounds better than the drill *in principle*, but the article fails to mention key factors, namely: what's the reload time and how much ammo can you carry?
how many pairs of boxer shorts should you own?
When I was a kid, the dentist's drill was going to be replaced by git and ultrasound. Then it was going to be a laser... Sorta like flying cars or fiber-to-the-curb.
"Eve of Destruction", it's not just for old hippies anymore...
The only thing that bothers me about dentists drills is when they slip up while sawing some thooth in half and the drill-bit digs into my gums. That said the vibrations of the dentists drill don't bother me half as much as what happenes when he/she is finished drilling. With only millimeters of tooth seperating the nerve from the open air the dentist then proceeds to thoroughly wash the hole that he/she just drilled with ICE COLD water. I understand the dentist has to wash the dust out of the teeth, but seriously, how much trouble would it be to install a heater in those dentist's chairs/torture-benches that warms the water up to body temperature? Doctors are seriously blind to patient comfort. In my experience it is usually simple things like this that would make visits to the dentist or some other physician much less of an ordeal.
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
http://www.odu.edu/webroot/orgs/IA/university_news .nsf/articles/01252006095739AM
s .nsf/articles/09272005090143PM
e ncilbig.jpg
http://www.odu.edu/webroot/orgs/IA/university_new
and an image: http://media.hamptonroads.com/images/news/plasmap
Old Dominion had this a while ago, and I believe that it was slashdotted too.
Viable Slashdot alternatives: https://pipedot.org/ and http://soylentnews.org/
At press time, Earthworm Jim was unavailable for comment.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
Everything went downhill from there...
When I go to the dentist, it's not really the tools that are my issue, but how careful the dentist will be.
Will it be a young woman recently having left studies to a dentist (= good, and not just for possibly her looks), or an old cold hearted, careless person. And I'm not sure if a careless user of a plasma needle sounds much more comfortable! O_o
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/7/11/15/1#need le
Ok, so its not slicing through his fingers but it's a step right.
OSGGFG - Open Source Gamers Guide to Free Games
Plasma Speakers!
You see, the plasma reference makes it relevant...
Google: "All your data are belong to us."
One of the articles linked above says that the needle only temporarily seperates cells. So wouldn't it be great for microsurgery that heals even better? You could make a "cut" with the plasma needle, and then when you extracted it, the cells would glue back together like nothing happened.
Google: "All your data are belong to us."
My last trip to the dentist involved driling and excising my 3rd right molar from my upper set of teeth. Needles don't bother me (hell I count how many times they have to poke and inject me just to gauge how much of a tolerance I've built up to such anesthetics,) nor does having to suck gas or hearing the whine of the drill. What does bother me, is that my teeth, even when decaying, are rather strong. The drill bit broke in my mouth without the dentist realizing it. She went right on ahead with a broken drill in my mouth to remove my tooth. A week later, while in Texas on vacation, I take a drag off of a cigarette, and something moves around in the cavity where the tooth once existed. A little fishing around with my tongue in the hole, and out comes the broken drillbit. Do you knwo what those things look like under a microscope? Imagine an allen wrench - now grab both ends and twist until it spirals. Sharpen the edges, THEN SERRATE them. That is what these drill bits look like.
Sorry for the story - but it's about damned time we had drill-less drilling/dentistry. And without heat, we're fairly well-set on the way to needing less anesthetics in this field of medical science. GO PLASMA!!!
Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
Being the buff manly man I am, I took the option at one point to have some cavities drilled without drugs. The option was only presented to me, however, because the cavities were superficial and did not go beyond the enamel in my tooth. It did feel funny and a little uncomfortable, but not to the point of blinding pain or anything that scary. It was pretty short, and had it gone on for much longer I would have probably opted for drugs.
However, if I need a root canal, which I hope I never do, heavy doses of novicane will be requested. The nerve has a funny way of knowing it's being removed regardless of by drill or by plasma lance.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
I'm a dentist, so I thought I might be able to help out with a couple areas of the discussion. First of all, there's a slight problem with the article. The plasma needle they talk about won't work on a tooth...it's just not possible. The outer layer of your teeth (the enamel) doesn't have any live cells in it (the formative cells die off just before the teeth erupt)...'inducing cell death' doesn't work if there are no live cells present. (The cells that are alive in the tooth are on the outer edge of the pulp, the third layer down, so you have to get through the hard mineralized outer surface first) So this won't replace the drill, but could theoretically replace current electrocautery methods for doing biopsies. With regards to what's causing the pain when you're getting a tooth filled - If you're experiencing pain when you're getting a filling put in, then your dentist hasn't numbed you up properly. Once you get through that outer layer of enamel, you reach the dentin. The dentin has little tubes running through it that go down to the pulp. When the ends of those tubes are opened up and exposed, the fluid in those tubes shifts and triggers nerve endings in the pulp which your brain interprets as pain (slightly simplified explanation). If you've been anesthetised properly, you shouldn't feel any pain. Anything else I can help with? Let me know. If I've talked above or below your head, my apologies...trying to make sure it's 'understandable' to all.
the bill. Now that smarts.
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The first thing that came to my mind was the mental image of a dentist yelling: "Fire in the hole!" :D
Just don't cross the beams.
Hmmm....
"Last tool that came near your mouth?"
[ ] Electro-Cautery
[ ] Mechanical Drill
[ ] CowboyNeal
"Painless" Laser Dentistry has been out for some time http://www.biolase.com/waterlase.html There are many dentists using it to prep cavities, gum surgery, and even root canals (though not up to our conventional standards). No shots are required. Proven technology.
On the other hand, this plasma being researched is in its infancy and seems to only work on killing live cells and bacteria. It doesn't take care of the infected portions of the cavity that has no live cells/bacteria. Your filling can only adhere to sound tooth structure, so it's a waste of time having fillings falling off. Unproven.
Even with the advantages offerred by laser dentistry, I myself don't consider using laser dentistry any time soon. The problem with laser dentistry is that even though we're supposed to hold the tip of the wand away from the tooth at a specified distance (its focal point, say 1/3 of an inch) for the wand to burn away materials most efficiently, it still burns materials a bit farther away from the focal point. This means I cannot get a smooth finish. IMO laser dentistry is still limited to minor gum surgery. It's not yet primetime for drilling at least for me.
The biggest disadvantage though is that the fine tactile feedback I get from the drill hitting tooth is lost (meaning I cannot gauge how big of a hole I just made). This is the major difference between a dentist and a dental student. If the tactile feedback is lost, dentists are no better than dental students when it comes to drill and fill. So even though I consider myself to be uptodate with today's technologies, new isn't necessarily better. I would only add the electric handpiece (drill) so it wouldn't make that whirrrring noise, and that's it. These new technologies need to improve a lot more. You wouldn't want to be a guinea pig.
By the way, Novacaine hasn't been used since the 70s. Lidocaine is the most common dental anesthetic agent now.
http://science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/10/1 5/132211
Erm. Aren't these basically the same thing?
Academy of Laser Dentistry
Laser dentistry eliminates many of the common complaints of traditional dentistry. A laser device replaces the rotary tool and can be used for everything from surgery to tooth bleaching. The only addition to the procedure is the requirement of protective glasses to shield the eyes from the laser beam. A laser doesn't make any noise and doesn't require physical contact with your teeth. Water isn't usually needed but air suction is used to keep the treated area cool.
I have read that often anesthesia is not needed since the laser doesn't produce the heat or vibration of the drill. It also avoids micro-fractures that may weaken the tooth down the road.
On that site you can search for dentists in your area.
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
I have.
I haven't been to the dentist in about 7 years, not because it hurts, but because I got sick and tired of being insulted by the dentist and his hourly-wage employees about the state of my oral health. Its bad? OK, so fix it. That's what you're being *paid* for. I don't want or need to be scolded or insulted because I haven't turned flossing into my life's work.
I actually do floss (although with a frequency that wouldn't meet any dental standards) and brush twice daily. I'm sure my mouth is a train wreck by dental standards, but I haven't really had any problems. It's actually made me wonder if the dental field isn't operating at a standard a whole lot higher than might actually be necessary.
The reason I bring up anesthetic dentistry is not so much the pain mitigation component, but most of them advertise their services in the vein of "guilt/lecture-free dentistry", that, and they can fix a lot of problems when you're under.
IMHO the dental profession would move the ball forward if they would just look at patients with bad flossing habits as a source of revenue and not an opportunity to get on their soapbox.
Or just spend AUS $2000 go for a nice trip to East Europe for a vacation and use a dentist there for much cheaper. Smart people do that you could've saved $16000. I think Cuba is a good destination to get the teeth done.
I am sorry that you had to spend that kinda money, even nowadays with internet you could've made better research on these. After all isn't this Slashdot for all-knowing geeks?
So here is a lesson kiddo... Do your research first!!
My dentist uses waterlase. The last 3 times I had work done on my teeth, I used no novicain BUT he still had to use a larger grinder bit to roughen things up inside the cavity to get ready for the filling. Will this new tech eliminate that need? (i didn't RTFA)
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I've been to the dentist many times in my life. Many cavities filled, crowns added et al.
The worst part of the dentist isn't that medical scent in every dentists office, with the faint mix of dried plaque... yeah, you know what I'm talking about. It's not even the part about getting poked with a needle here and there. (This shot goes in the roof of your mouth, you might feel a little prick... OK done.)
Aside from the insane bill you get (which, do NOT get me started on this.), the worst experience is after you visit the dentist.
Sitting outside, half your face numb. Try to spit, try to smoke a cigarette, try to drink a Mt. Dew. Try to kiss your girlfriend... YOU CAN'T! You instantly become a fumbling idiot looking stupid for the rest of the day.
What I want... is the ability for them to poke you again, and counter all the local anaethetics. General anaethetics are much better in this regard, you go under, when you wake up all is well. But that Lidocaine crap has got to go. Seriously. They need to be able to deaden the nerves, this is a godsend, but when they are done, perk them back up please. If they can reverse local anaethetics at their whim, I'd be less hesitant on going to the dentist. As it stands, man, I won't think about the dentist until tears are falling from my eyes due to pain.
Dunno. Since dentists have delegated the primary mouth-care to the hygienist, the hygienist gets to be the bad cop (Remember when hygienists were all young and cute and female? I guess they are all female even though there are now many men flight attendants and even a good number of men nurses. But they have got older and more school-marmish.). The dentist is the good cop, swoops into the room after the hygienist has rinsed all of the blood off your gums, the dentist comes in, probes your old fillings with the explorer for a few seconds, tells you how great your teeth are -- with fluoride, for most of us, teeth are pretty good, the gums are what will get you -- and then swoops out.
2 years ago I got four fillings and my dentist used a laser rather than a drill. I assumed that was what starting to be standard practice but all the discussions seem to suggest that most people are still seeing the drill. They were my first fillings so I can't compare the experience to getting fillings with a drill. But it was odd smelling my own tooth being "cut" into.
room temperature fourth state of matter?!?!? I'm sure my first thought would be "how can I stick this in my mouth?" too.
JET Program: see Japan, meet intere
OMG I want this now! God I can't wait. No more seriously frickin annoying drill sound! I suppose they better have a steady hand when doing this kind of thing though. So much better! I may enjoy the next dentist visit!