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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.""
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
It means "miracle cure" which, in the modern age of sarcasm, is probably used more often as an insult.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
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 means "cure-all", the pan- prefix being the relevant bit here. "Miracle-cure" isn't necessarily implied, but has arisen in sarcastic usage. Panacea could also be used to describe drugs and nutrients which benefit a broad range of ailments (not taking pan==all too literally), such as vitamins or anti-inflammatories. I think it's a shame that the sarcastic usage has taken over.
http://www.odu.edu/webroot/orgs/IA/university_news .nsf/articles/01252006095739AM
s .nsf/articles/09272005090143PM
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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/
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
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.
"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.
Let me clarify: It wouldn't be very nice to have a plasma needle break while your teeth are being worked on
There is no actual needle being used here, you are forcing high frequency voltage down a piece of tungsten ( the positive ) and it is bridging a small gap to a negtively charged ring clip. this then ionises the air around the arc, then you use a high pressure gas to blow the ionised air down a guidance tube and out of the guidance tip. the "needle" they refer to is the tiny plasma point that comes out of the guidance tip. to see what i mean go to any welding supply store and ask to see a demonstration of a plasma cutter, it is pretty much the same thing... just a lot larger scale.
To err is human; effective mayhem requires the root password!