Dental Technology
09/16/2005
Aside from toothpicks, the next real advancement in dental gadgetry came in 1780, which saw the appearance of the first toothbrush, with bristles wired into holes bored into a bone handle. And then there was little more substantial change, until the electric toothbrush, which mimics the motion your wrist makes.
Now we have the third generation of the toothbrush - the maker of the Oral-B series of brushes has figured out how to stuff a microchip into it, turning the humble tool for hygiene into a high-tech device. Okay, let's call it the 3G toothbrush.
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08/18/2005
Would you rather have a dental drill or a beam of light in your mouth?
Laser dentistry has made significant strides in the past few years.
My partner and daughter, Katherine Hefner, and I recently attended a laser update in Chicago.
A company called Lumenis is taking over the dental -- medical laser technology.
One machine about the size of a television stand has two lasers, one for soft tissue (biopses, cheek and gums) and one for hard tissue (tooth and bone).
While the machine has a multiple functions, I'm going to point out how it differs from old-fashioned drilling:
90 percent of the time, no anesthetic is needed.
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08/16/2005
And thus dentistry solved both of its problems at once. There was
instantly lots to do, prices rose dramatically, and people paid for it
themselves, thus allowing the dentists to avoid the insurance hassle. Sadly,
it's a fact of life that the American patient will pay far more and
complain less for cosmetic treatment than for life-saving medical or
surgical treatment.
Dental ads soon appeared in every dentistry and county throwaway magazine
for bonding, veneers, crowns, two-hour "power" whitening and invisalign
orthodontia. You, too, can look like a star. Just look at these before-and-after mugs!
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08/11/2005
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Researchers at the University
of Michigan have created crystals that can be organized into a structure that mimics enamel of human teeth, a step toward creating fillings to replace the material that's been destroyed.
Research investigator Haifeng Chen's laboratory
creation is reported in an article in the current issue of the Journal of Colloid and Interface Science.
Chen uses a simple idea to explain why he's excited
about simulating the hard, white exterior of teeth.
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08/06/2005
The day could eventually come when dentists no longer have to drill a tooth to stop decay. The IU School of Dentistry is using light to peak into the future of your teeth.
A dental checkup in the not too distant future may mean a light wand passing over your teeth. Dentists have developed something called quantitative light fluorescence to get a peak at your pearlies like never before.
"What we're trying to do is we're trying to detect decay process two years before you can see it on an X-ray or before it can be seen with the naked eye," said Dr. George Stookey, IU School of Dentistry professor emeritus.
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08/01/2005
A professor in NYU's College of Dentistry has created new technology for a dental implant that can reduce healing time by up to six months and could potentially revolutionize the world of medical devices.
Dr. John Ricci, assistant professor in the department of biomaterials and biomimetics, developed an implant, laser engraved with "microgrooves" that more or less correspond to the cells to which they attach. The microgrooves are a more advanced way of texturing implants, which, prior to Ricci's innovation, had been sand blasted and acid etched.
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07/28/2005
I awoke a couple of weeks ago to discover that my upper left wisdom tooth was feeling remarkably tender. Not being a big fan of dentists or doctors I proceeded to ignore the pain under the gleeful assumption that it would simply go away. Besides, I am a big boy.what's a little tooth pain? Being the ripe old age of 42, hell, Pain (his last name is Smith, by the way) is my friend.
Now, I do not mind if my good buddy Pain comes and stays a day or two with the wife and I, but it seemed as though he had brought his bags and set up permanent residence.
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07/26/2005
The word laser might conjure thoughts of Star Wars, but lasers are no longer merely the subject of science fiction works. During the last two decades, lasers have permeated most fields of medicine, revolutionizing the way patients are diagnosed and treated.
An article in the May issue of AGD Impact, the newsmagazine of the Academy of General Dentistry (AGD), provides an explanation of how dental lasers work, what different types of lasers have been developed for dentistry and why some patients are considering laser surgery for their next dental procedure.
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07/13/2005
CHICAGO (June 25, 2005) – Are you searching for a treatment for yourself or a family member who suffers from chronic or temporary bad breath? Are you or one of your family members at risk for stroke? Your dentist may play a role in finding a solution to these ailments. Are you avoiding the dentist because you know you’ll be at the opposite end of a dentist’s drill? Thanks to technology, there are new treatment options for dental problems that at one time only a drill would cure.
Below is a sampling of dental health advancements general dentists will learn about when they converge in Washington, D.C.
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