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Plasma Jets Could Replace Dental Drills
Hugh Pickens writes "The first electric dental drill was patented in 1875; modern drills grind the diseased portions of teeth away at up to 500,000 rpm. But dentists have been seeking less invasive ways of wiping out stubborn, tooth-decaying bacteria. Now Live Science reports that bacteria-killing jets of plasma could soon replace the drills used to treat cavities in our teeth. Researchers recently demonstrated that a small, blowtorch-like device emitting a relatively cool beam of purple plasma could eliminate oral bacteria in cavities, leaving more tooth structure intact than a drill does. To test how well 'cold' plasma jets (about 100F or 38C) sterilize tooth material, researchers took slices of dentin from extracted human molars, doused them with bacteria, and torched them with the plasma jet. An inspection via a scanning electron microscope of the damage done to the germs shows bacterial remnants had holes in their cell walls. When the plasma jet fires, it charges oxygen in the surrounding air, creating highly reactive molecules that can break down the bacteria's defenses. Researchers believe the technique could be available to general dentistry in three to five years."
"Researchers believe the technique could be available to general dentistry in three to five years."
COME ON, guys, my appointment is on the 22nd. Hurry!
o hai
so i just need to manage no cavities for another 5 years. it's been 6 since i saw a dentist. i can do this. come on!
Would this kind of device be useful in the bathroom? Probably not as a replacement for flossing or brushing, but fighting plaque build-ups in places you can't really get?
I've always wondered why they haven't developed a hard coating for teeth that would prevent most cavities and why we don't have vaccination against caries and periodontal pathogens.
It often seems like the basics of dentistry have changed little. There are newer materials for crowns and tooth-colored fillings, CNC machines and 3d modeling for crowns, but AFAIK going to the dentist is little different for me now than it was 40 years ago.
I sometimes wonder if advances in preventive dentistry aren't limited by the structure and practice of dentistry itself. Plus, dentists being dentists, they have a built-in interest in high-quality preventive care (high-frequency flossing, rinses, brushing, etc) and thus themselves develop few of the chronic problems that plague the general public and thus don't devote resources to better passive preventive systems/technologies as they believe the ones available are "good enough".
In a way it kind of reminds me of the problems non-technology people have with computers that technology people don't suffer from; these issues don't really get addressed within technology itself very aggressively because to the people who don't have these issues, they aren't considered serious problems or are considered side effects of other problems (general ignorance or lack of intelligence, etc).
Great! If this is a success... I might like going to the dentist :)
Or maybe not..
It could unleash a whole evil dental underworld.
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
Do you ever wonder how they think up this stuff. Some researcher is sitting around drinking coffee thinking, "Hey, I wonder what would happen if you blasted a cavity with plasma?" How do you even think of questions like that without being stoned?
Then I started wondering if I'm going to be hearing my dentist going, "Pew! Pew! Pew!"
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
The drill isn't just for killing the bacteria inside cavities (called "caries" by dentists). The drill is used to make an undercut hole large enough to get stuffed with filling material. In doing so, it removes not only the bacteria but also the food-material that the bacteria was growing on. A plasma jet won't do either of those things, so they would still need to use a drill.
http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/dunecdentistopen.jpg
This isn't the only use. I watched an interview with the guy who invented the cool plasma. It can be used to sterilize hands as well. You know the sterilization chamber from Star Trek, the one you enter with your clothes off after coming back from a planet and get eradiated. Well you can do that too with cool plasma.
Make you hate when xkcd is right at something.
You have never had any serious dental work done. There are plenty of hi-tech advancements that didn't even exist 20 years ago.
Actually I would think anything that greatly reduces the chance of a dentist visit resulting in painful drilling would eventually work to counter the stigma associated with the profession, and maybe alleviate the "everyone hates coming to see me" depression.
This is my sig. There are many like it but this one is mine.
Where does the grounding clamp attach?
"Science flies us to the moon. Religion flies us into buildings." - Victor Stenger
/. had an article about very similar research about 4 years ago...
it charges oxygen in the surrounding air
. Wait, is oxi-clean.. plasma?
Fact: Everything I say is fiction.
Once again, plasma proves its technically superiority over LCD.
Sig (appended to the end of comments you post, 120 chars)
For there was never yet philosopher That could endure the toothache patiently.
An inspection via a scanning electron microscope of the damage done to the germs shows bacterial remnants had holes in their cell walls.
I take from that, that it will also put holes it my cells’ walls.
Do. Not. Want!
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
The plasma IS cool, just like the water IS wet, and the fire IS hot.
Mass Nouns are not plural.
I recently went after many years, and the dentist found three. I was a little suspicious, and asked the dentist about it. He said yes, due to advanced digital x-rays, cavities are spotted earlier. The more important fact was that he said with newer filling techniques and material, it allows them to fill smaller cavities. The older fillings didn't "take" that well in teeth, and so dentists had to let cavities grow largert, so they could fill them successfully. So the up to date, modern dentist will probably find these "mini-cavities" and fill them before it becomes a giant cavity.
Why do this then? Well one of my older style fillings was in a tooth that was weak, which cracked in half, and I needed a root canal and crown. The newer mini-fillings will keep more of the tooth, preventing problems like that in the future.
..........FULL STOP.
This adds a whole new layer of meaning when your Dentist goes "Whoops!"
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
A lot of toothpastes made for children are fruit-flavored, and Tom's of Maine (http://www.tomsofmaine.com) makes a few non-minty flavors. Also try your local natural foods store - they probably have some wacky flavors.
It's been know since the 1930s:
http://www.orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v05n03.shtml
Treatment:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/treatment.shtml
This may be an especially big problem these days in pediatric dentistry, as kids spend more and more time indoors.
A 21st century issue: the irony of technologies of abundance in the hands of those still thinking in terms of scarcity.
After all, a full 70% of the top ten mysteries of the mind (according to them) actually had to do with the mind.
In this little missive of theirs they make clear that we've all been mistaken thinking drills were for digging holes into materials like teeth, when all along they were intended for killing germs by digging holes into them.
As for "creating highly reactive molecules that can break down the bacteria's defenses", you can buy a quart bottle of dental drills for a dollar or less. These drills go by the name "hydrogen peroxide".
"I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid." -- Bishop 341-B
At this point, I'm torn between Cartman's "he he he he he he" and Nelson Muntz's "haw haw".
Ahh -that's the kicker.My dentist had a screen right next to the chair showing me where the carries were. Digital x-rays are quite nice, as the images can be blown up to show you where the problem lies. Mine was easy to spot.
I concur - ask to see the images. If you're at all concerned, then get a second opinion. No one is holding you in that chair.
..........FULL STOP.
...chance of a dentist visit resulting in painful drilling...
But where would Steve Martin get more material for a musical performance?
Nitrous Oxide is a helluva drug.