It is a known fact that wisdom teeth cause lots of problems in many modern people. According to the estimations, every 9 of 10 people have various unwanted conditions related to their wisdom teeth. Some people suffer from impacted wisdom teeth, or improperly growing wisdom teeth which very often causes terrible pains and inability to use the teeth properly. As a result, those people are forced to visit dental clinics and get possible treatment, however, in most of such cases dental care specialists offer removing wisdom teeth. This is quite a serious surgical procedure linked to numerous risks, including the risks for infections and other serious complications.  The experts from the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons say that the number of wisdom teeth removal surgeries has been firmly increasing for a few last years, and it is hardly possible to find an effective solution to stop this tendency.

Some scientists were thinking about the strategies and looking for effective ways to stop wisdom teeth growth, thus receive an opportunity to help people avoid going through pains and painful dental procedures of wisdom teeth removal. Earlier this month, the findings of a very interesting relevant study were published. According to the conclusions of an expert group based in the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine paediatric dental clinic, it is possible to inhibit wisdom teeth growth in young children by giving them some type of dental anesthesia. As the experiments of the scientists have shown, this can be an effective approach to stopping the development of wisdom teeth and making young children not suffer from wisdom teeth related problems in the future. It is reported that the practical experiments involved working with 220 young children aged between 2 and 6, who came to the paedistric dental clinic for various sorts of dental treatment.

The kids had annual X-ray in the clinic for three and more years, and the scientists payed attention to the fact that those kids who were treated with local dental anesthesia (also known as numbing) during dental procedures to their low jaws had considerably higher incidence of underdeveloped or even missing low jaw wisdom teeth buds comparing to those participants who have never had dental anesthesia. According to Anthony Silvestri, one of the study leaders and a professor of prosthodontics and operative dentistry, “The incidence of missing wisdom teeth was significantly higher in the group that had received dental anaesthesia; statistical evidence suggests that this did not happen by chance alone.” He underlined that normally, wisdom teeth buds start developing in little kids aged between 2 and 4, and in late teenage hood wisdom teeth start already emerging. However, in some people wisdom teeth may start emerging in early adulthood, or even as late as in the late 20s – early 30s.

The scientists are convinced that the approach they have found will open a way to developing a new treatment allowing people avoid problems with their wisdom teeth by simple not developing them. However, it is underlined in the report that further more thorough studies are necessary in order to confirm the findings and develop a clear technology based on the findings. “Dentists have been giving local anaesthesia to children for nearly 100 years and may have been preventing wisdom teeth from forming without even knowing it,” the study leader said. “Our findings give hope that a procedure preventing [wisdom tooth] growth can be developed.” The report about this interesting research was recently published in the Journal of the American Dental Association. Many dental experts expressed their interest to these findings, though they failed to explain cause-and-effect links between using dental anesthesia and wisdom teeth growth inhibition. Hopefully, further studies will find the relationship very soon.

 

Tags: wisdom teeth growth

Posted: August 22nd, 2013 under Innovations In Dentistry.
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Many people avoid visiting dental clinics and dental cabinets due to their huge fear of pain and discomfort linked to dental procedures. This dental phobia usually becomes a reason of more serious dental problems since those people who suffer from it tend to fight against tooth aches and other dental pains on their own, until the situation turns into something really serious, so it becomes impossible to avoid visiting dental specialist’s cabinet anymore. Such people look for new dental technologies without pain and unpleasant feelings, so they would never miss visiting dental care specialists and be able to prevent possible serious dental problems. It is a known fact that stem cells technologies can soon turn into a helping hand to those who suffer from dental phobias. According to the latest findings, this approach can give us the ways to forget about pains and other unpleasant feelings we experience when undergoing dental treatments.

Earlier this month, a group of Japanese specialists reported that they managed to use stem cells technology to totally restore tooth tissues of dogs. Therefore, the experts from Shin Nippon Biomedical Laboratories in Kagoshima and from the School of Dentistry at Aichi-gakuin University, are convinced that they are very close to developing similar kind of technology for people, and using stem cells it will soon be possible to forget about such common dental treatments as tooth filling, root canal, and many others. In modern dental clinics, tooth decay is treated by removing a piece of pulp and its surrounding, which is always accompanied with pain (unless a painkilling injection is used) and psychological discomfort, and replacing the removed part with various types of tooth filling. Sometimes, very serious side effects many take place.  ‘Dental cavities and inflammation of the surrounding pulp is a challenging public health issue, as tooth decay not only can cause a patient great pain but it also can lead to other serious health issues including heart disease,’ the study leader said.

Pulp is a very important part of our teeth. It is filled with sensors which give us an idea about what kind of meals we’re tasting (hot, cold, etc.), and also our tooth pulp reacts on the factors like pressure, etc. Tooth pulp is known as an excellent source of stem cells, and, as the Japanese researchers managed to find out, those stem cells can be used to regenerate various tooth tissues, this way helping to prevent the necessity of going through painful dental treatments. The experiments with dog teeth were successful, and the researchers managed to use tooth pulp for restoring not only pulp tissues, but the tissues of the whole tooth. For the experiment, pulp from the root canals of 18 dogs was taken, from which stem cells were collected, and then in the labs the stem cells were treated with what is known as granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). The results were received very fast, and to a great surprise of the scientists, it became possible to regenerate the whole tooth by using the stem cells in quite limited amount of time.

‘We also noted that the pulp stem cells treated with G-CSF yielded a significantly larger amount of regenerated dentin-pulp complex than those without it,’ the study leader, Dr. Nakashima, a specialist of the National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, said. The scientists did not manage to detect any evidence of toxicity or any other possible side effects of the technology. However, they are still concerned about the issues of safety, which, according to their comments, should be solved in order to proceed with the experiments and come to working with human teeth. The approval for new studies is expected to be granted soon by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. The detailed information about the study and newly proposed stem cell technology to replace common dental treatments can be found in one of the latest issues of the journal  STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.

Tags: dental treatments, stem cells

Posted: July 10th, 2013 under Innovations In Dentistry.
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We all are afraid of pain, and many dental care specialists agree that severe dental pain and our dental phobias are the leading factors that make us delay our visiting dental clinics and skip even our regular dental check ups. Despite the fact that there are very effective pain management technologies used in all modern dental care clinics to reduce and totally eliminate pain during dental procedures, our fear of dental pain still makes us stay away from dental specialists for as much as we can. We are rather ready to drink a handful of painkillers every day and stand on chronic dental pain than visit a dentist and remove the aching tooth. According to the most recent estimations, about 25 per cent of adult people in today’s United Kingdom admit that their anxiety and great fear of severe dental pain during the procedures are the main factor making them delay their dental clinic visits.

That is why national dental care specialists initiated a massive campaign to raise public awareness of the fact that there are very effective technologies for dental pain relief, as well as promoting a new revolutionary technology named Vibraject. This new approach has been launched in over 100 dental clinics throughout the country, and it offers totally pain-free dental procedures. Vibraject, which is actually a small electronic device to be attached to dental equipment, works for removing dental pain linked to dental injection, thus making dental procedures pain free and assisting patients sitting in dental chairs feeling comfortable and fear-free. This device is an excellent solution for those with severe needle phobia, as well as for those patients who suffer from the above mentioned dental drilling phobias and other dental pain phobias. By using Vibraject, dental specialists can make injections so effectively and so successfully that most of the patients do not even notice that the painkiller has already been injected, thus feel  no pain and negative emotions.

The device itself is something like a very small barrel attached to a regular syringe. Its main function is making the needle vibrate very fast, making a special sensation which can reach the brain first and effectively cover the feeling of having a needle in the gum and feeling the related pain. Practicing dental care specialists who have already tried this amazing innovation are very happy with the effects and say that this technology works perfectly great, especially for young children who are usually scared of both dental pain and dental injection related pain. Small patients are extremely happy and named this amazing dental pain relief technology ‘The Buzzy Thing’. Dental care professionals are convinced that this invention can contribute greatly in developing a new feeling and a new understanding of dental procedures forming in new generation, as pain-free procedures. It is reported that Vibraject guarantees a great emotional relief and stress-free dental procedure even to those people who are extremely pain sensitive and suffer from severe needle phobia.

Every one who wants to test the benefits of the dental pain relief can visit a dental clinic included to the campaign promoters list. In order to proclaim and inform the patients that they are participating in the campaign, the dental cabinets and clinics were given special stickers with a sign “Vibraject here”. There are plenty of positive reviews and comments from the clients at the website of the campaign as well. Many experts also express their positive opinions after using the dental pain relief technology. ‘After I had used Vibraject, the patient asked me: ‘When do you give me the injection?’ I have used it on virtually every single patient since then. I think it’s fantastic,’ said Dr. Stevenson, a specialists at Maryport Dental Care Centre. Hopefully, this amazing tool will shortly be available throughout the world and help millions of dental patients to go through their procedures without any pain, any fear and any stress. Go to here to learn more about the issue.

Tags: dental pain relief, severe dental pain

Posted: February 15th, 2013 under Innovations In Dentistry.
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