Slashdot Mirror
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
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?
For cavities' sake, get checked. I skipped going to the dentist for years because I'd never had cavities, until I went and the guy found 3 :/
Yeah. Would you choose a neurosurgeon who pokes around people's brains in his spare time? I wouldn't.
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).
It could unleash a whole evil dental underworld.
I hate being bipolar; it's awesome!
For oral cancers sake, get checked at least once per year. At that rate, they are usually treatable.
Help children born unable to swallow - www.tofs.org.uk
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
I had my first fillings almost four years ago and the dentist had already stopped using drills. Mine were shallow so he used a mini sand-blaster. Mouth was full of grit after but better than the stories I've heard about drills. He said for deeper work they use a laser.
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
He said for deeper work they use a laser.
That sounds awesome, but I'm a bit confused: how do they fit the whole shark inside your mouth?
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.
Genetically modified pico-sharks, you ninny.
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
The drills really aren't that bad, assuming that the dentist doesn't botch it. No new technology can be expected to solve poor technique or accidents.
Actually, the way I understood this is that plasma is used to disinfect the dentin, instead of mechanically drilling away the infected part. So there is less potential for mechanical damage as well. Some drilling is probably necessary to remove the mechanically decayed part, but there is less need to remove extra layers just in case.
Escher was the first MC and Giger invented the HR department.
Looks like yet another solution looking for a problem. The point of the drilling is to remove infected dentin and leave healthy dentin intact. When teeth decay it's a process in which bacteria are demineralizing and destroying the hard structures of the tooth. Simply killing the bacteria is not sufficient to restore the damaged structures; the damaged structures themselves must be removed, along with any undamaged structures that have been undermined by decay. Additionally, if disinfection were the only goal the decay would still need to be exposed via drilling in order to effect disinfection. As much as people hate the drills, they also provide tactile feedback as to the location of decay. Hard tissue lasers are extremely expensive relative to the drills and provide no such feedback. Visual inspection is often insufficient to determine the quality of the dentin which is why we are always poking with those sharp little explorers. Another issue is being able to determine whether or not the bacteria have all been killed. Leaving infected dentin behind means the decay will simple continue from that point. Removing all of the softened, infected dentin is necessary to prevent recurrence of decay. Incidentally, traditional dental amalgam fillings (mercury, silver and tin) are inherently somewhat antibacterial. The metal tends to inhibit bacterial growth providing a small measure of protection to recurrence. However preventative measures like good daily diet and hygiene (e.g. cutting out the sugar and brushing/flossing) is still the best means of preserving your teeth.
Other methods of disinfection have been tried and failed, hence "drill and fill" remains the most reliable method of restoration.
I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
As a dentist, I can comment here with some degree of authority on the subject. If a tooth has cavitated, in other words, the surface has broken, the dentin part you speak of being disinfected is a mushy mess. Even if the plasma could "disinfect" this area, the tooth would be left with a spongy core, incapable of supporting the remaining hard structure of the tooth. One of the fundamental parts of preparing a tooth is to not leave any unsupported enamel. If "infected" dentin is left, albeit bacteria free, the chance for tooth fracture is great.
I do think that this technology would work in early caries removal, such as shallow lesions. Often you don't know how deep a carious lesion will go until you open things up and start excavating decay out. At some point you will have to use some sort of mechanical process to scoop the decayed material out, either a hand instrument or a slower speed bur.
Now if you are concerned about the trade-off between exposing the pulp (nerve) and needing a root canal, or leaving a thin layer of carious dentin, this plasma approach may be good. It has been shown in research that a small layer of decay left under the proper filling, can repair itself and if small enough no root canal therapy may be necessary. The plasma may help out in disinfecting this area and help out the repair process. But I digress...
Different clinicians practice to different standards and use differing treatment standards and different diagnostic methods. A dentist using the older standard probe and X-ray technique will miss more, using new digital radiography and new diagnostic aids more will be found. Many small caries can remain sub-clinical for decades or even unmineralized and get smaller or they can grow explosively. Sometimes the "caries" are caused by physical traumas like abfraction due to bruxism, clenching and other parafunctional habits. Unfortunately there can be differences based on economic considerations as well.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
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.