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Homepage | Dental Health
Tiny Ultrasound Machine May Regrow Teeth and Bone
The AFP reports that scientists at the University of Alberta in Edmonton have created an ultrasound machine that they claim can stimulate the growth of tooth and bone.
"Right now, we plan to use it to fix fractured or diseased teeth, as well as asymmetric jawbones, but it may also help hockey players or children who had their tooth knocked out," Jie Chen, an engineering professor and nano-circuit design expert, told AFP.
Chen helped create the tiny ultrasound machine that gently massages gums and stimulates tooth growth from the root once inserted into a person's mouth, mounted on braces or a removable plastic crown.
The wireless device, smaller than a pea, must be activated for 20 minutes each day for four months to stimulate growth, he said.
It can also stimulate jawbone growth to fix a person's crooked smile and may eventually allow people to grow taller by stimulating bone growth, Chen said.
If it works it will be an amazing breakthrough that makes life easier for everyone. Another article says the device can regrow the teeth root.
Posted on July 6, 2006
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Possible Bacteria Link to Oral Cancer Discovered
Reuters reports that that scientists think they have discovered that bacteria may play a role in the development of oral squamous cell carcinoma. Oral squamous cell carcinoma is a dangerous cancer that the American Cancer Society believes will kill over 7,000 Americans in 2005.
Three different types of mouth bacteria are associated with the most common form of oral cancer, researchers said Thursday in a discovery that may lead to a simple test for the often-fatal tumor.
The study, published in the Journal of Translational Medicine, also suggests the bacteria may play a role in causing the cancer, called oral squamous cell carcinoma, the researchers said.
"Finding bacteria associated with (oral squamous cell carcinoma) encourages us to hope that we have discovered an early diagnostic marker for the disease," said Donna Mager of the Forsyth Institute in Boston, who led the study.
The scientists still have to determine if the bacteria is actually causing the cancer or if the bacteria just grows more easily and quickly in the mouth once cancer is present. Bacteria and virus have been discovered to cause cancers. The Reuters article noted that Helicobacter pylori is a bacteria that can cause stomach cancers and that the human papilloma virus causes cervical cancer.
Posted on July 7, 2005
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