
Researchers use light to coax stem cells to repair teeth (2014) - mad_dev
https://www.seas.harvard.edu/news/2014/05/researchers-use-light-to-coax-stem-cells-to-repair-teeth
======
kyriakos
I hope this process becomes part of mainstream dental medicine. Our current
dental technology feels backward compared to other fields of medicine

~~~
angersock
Eh?

Dentistry is one of the few fields of medicine that seems to know exactly how
to fix whatever is ailing you and can do so at a cost that can be reasonably
borne out-of-pocket without the clowncar of the insurance industry showing up.

I'd say that it's a huge success!

~~~
oxide
Last time I saw a dentist I needed 10k worth of work. My current plan involves
a trip to Mexico or maybe just dying from blood poisoning.

~~~
hoppa_liza
Several acquaintances of mine living in first world countries resort to going
back to their 3rd world countries of origin when serious dental work is
needed. So much that it has become a trend and a very common piece of advice.

If this is not a sign of the health care system failing, I do not know what
is.

~~~
BatFastard
I have been looking for a good dental vacation, any advice?

~~~
sehutson
I had a fantastic experience in Costa Rica. I researched on WhatClinic,
TripAdvisor discussions, and various blogs where people talked about their
experiences, then contacted a couple places to get a feel for what they were
like. I ended up going with one of the most expensive ones there, but it was
still a better deal than what my little sister paid for her root canals and
crowns after insurance here in the US (she has great benefits as a teacher) -
and of course, there was no annual benefit cap to contend with.

I'd definitely recommend going during their rainy season, since hotels and
flights are cheaper and you'll spend a ton of time at their office and in your
hotel room anyway. If your work won't be too painful and you can afford it,
plan the trip to be longer than you actually need so you can build in a little
more fun time. Most of the better places have coordinators who are happy to
help you figure out where to stay and how best to schedule the trip.

You can send your xrays down ahead of time to get a rough estimate of what's
needed, but they'll do a new evaluation when you get there. In my case, they
told me that some of what my US-based dentists had recommended was completely
unnecessary (and that the treatment plans had likely been more about making
money). I needed a few root canals and crowns, but not as many as was
recommended here in the US. Similarly, the CR dentist said there was no reason
I couldn't keep my 2 remaining wisdom teeth.

I'd recommend staying really, really close to the office you choose. Traffic
is pretty awful and the driving down there can be a little scary to those of
us who are used to orderly driving. I stayed at the Radisson and went to Meza
Dental and it was no more than 5 minutes back and forth, even during rush
hour. When your face is numb and you're miserable after a long day at the
dentist, that's really nice.

The only thing I think I would have done differently is to pack more of my own
food, as hotel food started to get really old and food there can be
surprisingly expensive, even at the local Walmart. The hotel employees
repeatedly advised against going out after dark (about 5:30-6pm in June)
without a large group or local guide, so I ate a lot of room service (which,
weirdly enough, was the same price as walking to the hotel restaurants to
eat).

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taxicabjesus
Years ago I switched to brushing with baking soda and salt, and my teeth have
basically stopped degenerating. Bar soap is good too, for removing acid-
producing bacteria, but I don't like the aftertaste of some soaps.

~~~
taxicabjesus
Gerard Judd is the chemist who recommends brushing with bar soap [1]. It's
cheap, readily available, and works better than anything else. And when
combined with a second round of brushing with baking soda, my teeth stay
squeaky-clean for longer than any toothpaste I've ever used.

[1] [http://www.fixyourteeth.org/](http://www.fixyourteeth.org/)

Just yesterday my brother & his wife were commenting on how good my 8-year old
dog's teeth are. They've never been professionally cleaned. When she was a
puppy, we fed her raw chicken with bones. When she got to be full sized this
was too expensive, so she now she eats dog food. I think the main reason she
has such good teeth now is because she had adequate calcium and other
nutrients when her teeth were forming.

~~~
ThinkBeat
You really should not feed chicken bones to a day. The fragments can be very
sharp and cause medical problems.

[http://www.vetblog.net/2013/07/dog.swallowed.chicken.bone.pr...](http://www.vetblog.net/2013/07/dog.swallowed.chicken.bone.problem.html)

[http://keepthetailwagging.com/dont-panic-when-a-dog-eats-
a-c...](http://keepthetailwagging.com/dont-panic-when-a-dog-eats-a-cooked-
chicken-bone/)

~~~
danieltillett
Chickens don’t have bones anymore - they grow so fast that there is not time
for the bones to mineralise. My brother and I used to always break the
wishbone with each other whenever we had a roast chicken when we were kids. I
tried about a year ago to do this with my kids and it was impossible.

~~~
refurb
Every chicken I've ever cooked, including the one last night had bones. We're
talking bones that take a lot of force to break.

~~~
danieltillett
They have pseudo-bones (basically just cartilage with minor mineralisation).
These “bones” are nothing like they were like 40 years ago. This cartilage is
of course tough, but try cracking a wishbone of a modern meat chicken - it
just bends rather than snaps.

Interestingly the growth rate of modern meat chickens is limited to bone
mineralisation rate. If you breed a chicken with faster growth rates (which
you can do) they end up with broken legs as the bone can’t support the weight
of the bird [1].

1\.
[http://japr.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/1/138.full.pdf](http://japr.oxfordjournals.org/content/16/1/138.full.pdf)

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aaronbrethorst
(2014)

Any updates on this since then?

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zupreme
If you like this, you should really read about another new technology which
regrows dental tissue using sound: [http://www.colgate.com/en/us/oc/oral-
health/cosmetic-dentist...](http://www.colgate.com/en/us/oc/oral-
health/cosmetic-dentistry/adult-orthodontics/article/ada-07-novel-ultra-sound-
system)

------
mad_dev
This is kinda old. But I was surprised to know that such an advancement in
stem-cell research has been made.

~~~
msie
Sigh, I hope more comes of it. This is the first time I've ever heard of it.

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myrloc
What kind of regulations does a treatment like this have coming it's way?

------
o_____________o
We've "cured" cavities quite a few times via fighting the primary cavity
causing bacteria S. Mutans with techniques ranging from phages, to a vaccine,
to introducing a crippled version of the bacteria in a semi-sterilized mouth.
Wondered what happened to all of those options?

~~~
rincebrain
[1] suggests that it's a combination of it being at least mildly hard, and
there being insufficient fiscal incentive to develop it.

It seems several vendors have realized solutions in varying stages of human
trials, without getting to the "commercial" stage (yet):

\- "CaroRx" is entirely not mentioned on the owning company's products list
[2]

\- The list of authors on the antibiotic study from the Chinese Academy of
Sciences don't seem to have published any other studies on this since the 2013
one [3]

\- Oragenics seems to have just gotten a patent on a new form of their one-off
replacement bacteria [4], but that's not nearly the same thing as human trial
approval

\- The US military's gum for mitigating issues with dental neglect that happen
in combat seems to currently be attempting to get licensed to non-military
vendors for civilian use. [5] [6]

[1] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caries_vaccine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caries_vaccine)

[2] - www.planetbiotechnology.com/products.html

[3] -
[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708248/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3708248/)

[4] - [http://www.oragenics.com/news-media/press-
releases/detail/35...](http://www.oragenics.com/news-media/press-
releases/detail/35/oragenics-receives-new-patent-for-improved-replacement)

[5] - [http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/zero-dark-
cavity](http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/zero-dark-cavity)

[6] - [http://techlinkcenter.org/summaries/antimicrobial-peptide-
an...](http://techlinkcenter.org/summaries/antimicrobial-peptide-antiplaque-
chewing-gum)

------
roschdal
Where can I sign up for participation in medical trials on this?

------
mrfusion
Any news on gum disease?

------
PhantomGremlin
First the article says: _" drill holes in their molars, treat the tooth pulp
that contains adult dental stem cells with low-dose laser treatments, applied
temporary caps"_

Then it says: _" Dave and his team have added an innovative, noninvasive and
remarkably simple but powerful tool"_

Yeah, okay, if you read Wiktionary it defines "noninvasive" as "not requiring
an incision". So by that strict definition it's true. Drilling holes is
_totally_ different than "an incision". Right?

I realize that this has "a host of applications", some of which truly are
noninvasive. It's just that this particular application was anything but
noninvasive, IMO.

~~~
sah2ed
Seems you skimmed the article.

The first part you quoted was explaining the prior art done by the lead author
-- giving _rodents_ (not _humans_ ) damaged tooth.

The innovative procedure on humans will use lasers to trigger restoration of
the damaged teeth.

~~~
PhantomGremlin
_Seems you skimmed the article._

I did not skim the article. Show me where it clearly says that they have an
"innovative procedure" that _noninvasively_ triggers human dentin stem cells.

They alluded to other noninvasive uses, but this wasn't one of them.

