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Title: Flossing might not actually have any proven medical benefits
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URL Source: http://www.sciencealert.com/flossin ... o-proven-benefits-report-finds
Published: Aug 3, 2016
Author: ERIN BRODWIN, BUSINESS INSIDER
Post Date: 2016-08-03 05:59:49 by Tatarewicz
Keywords: None
Views: 245
Comments: 14
ScienceAlert: It seems like simple, obvious advice: Eat your vegetables, get some exercise, and - of course - floss. Or not. Turns out that despite being recommended by numerous scientists and universities, the effectiveness of flossing has never been researched, according to a new report from the Associated Press. The US government has recommended flossing for nearly four decades. But according to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, a set of recommendations the agency sends out every five years, all of the recommendations have to be grounded in scientific evidence. And flossing is, well, not. In its report, published Tuesday, the Associated Press says that it used the Freedom of Information Act to request evidence for the benefits of flossing from the departments of Health and Human Services. AP never received that evidence. Instead, it got a letter from the government acknowledging that the effectiveness of flossing had never been studied. So the AP took a look at more than 25 studies comparing conventional brushing alone against brushing plus flossing. They found little to no evidence in favour of flossing. That comes in sharp contrast to recommendations from basically every major dental hygiene organisation, including the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Periodontology. Flossing is still considered so crucial to health that it’s included in one of the questions in the Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator, a tool that uses metrics like diet and exercise to determine your approximate life expectancy. Many experts say that not flossing lets plaque, the thin film of bacteria that clings to teeth and builds up during the day, to become tartar, a hard deposit that can irritate gums. That tartar buildup can, in turn, cause the gums to recede. Worse, it could create a gap between the gum and the tooth, which could get infected and lead to gum disease. Numerous reports have linked gum disease to a host of other diseases, including kidney disease, diabetes, and heart disease. Still, no research has concluded that one causes the other - only that there is some kind of relationship between the two. A 2013 study in the journal CardioRenal Medicine, for example, found that people suffering from chronic kidney disease and gum disease were more likely to die of heart disease, a leading cause of death among those with kidney problems. The study was unable to pinpoint the precise role gum disease might play in deaths from heart disease, but the researchers nonetheless recommended taking steps to cut back on gum disease in these patients. People with diabetes have also been found to be at a higher risk of developing gum disease, and people with gum disease have similarly been found to be more likely to develop diabetes. A 2012 study in the journal Diabetologia suggests that there is evidence supporting the existence of a two-way relationship between the two, but couldn’t ultimately conclude that that was the case. So for now, the topic remains heated. To floss, or not to floss? It remains a question. This article was originally published by Business Insider. Poster Comment: Flossing minimizes bacteria population by depriving critters of any food that might be lodged between teeth. Best way to eliminate bacteria is to brush with bar soap and of course rinse thoroughly.
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#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
Science Alert gets to wear the dunce cap here. You can tell flossing's great because if you don't do it for awhile and then do, it smells like Schytte -- which it basically is. It took me years to start doing it, and more years to start doing Listerine -- but it feels like the real thing now. Do you brush with bar soap, Tata? Never heard of that. I've heard salt, I've heard baking soda, but never tried 'em. Pastor Paul Revere maintained that sanguinaria toothpaste completely prevents plaque. www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4zuVAWSseM
Ever since a dentist suggested it online years ago. Bacteriacide in soap hard on liver but bacteria are killed in the 20-second soap suds handwashing routine. When you minimize bacteria in mouth there's less chance of them getting into lungs. Waiting for 3-D printing to come along for rebuilding broken teeth. Dentists reluctant to push research into 3D after having spent $250,000 on in- house crown shaping machine.
Technology is wreaking havoc with some people as it liberals others! Let us know how you make out with it. ($250k sounds awfully steep???) My my, "commercial tooth soap" http://woodlanddental.ca/press/2011/03/29/soap-to-brush-your-teeth-my-response/ Doesn't it taste awful?
My Canadian dentist got the crown fabricator from Germany; it's the kind of high-tech stuff Germans make their money on. See below and video at: A New Tooth, Made to Order in Under an Hour By Gina Kolata, NYT October 8, 2012 I was chewing a piece of steak on a Saturday night last month when an old filling shattered. Suddenly, along with steak I had chunks of gray amalgam and shards of tooth in my mouth. I felt the hole with my tongue — it seemed as large as a crater. The Digital Doctor The Digital Doctor In this special issue of Science Times, we look at some of the many ways that technology is changing the world of medicine. Go to Special Section » My dentist later confirmed that I now had a big hole in a molar, too big for a filling. But, the dentist said, if I could spare an hour he could make a crown and put it in, right then and there. An hour? Aren’t crowns — those tooth-shaped caps that fit over teeth — supposed to require at least two visits? First, the dentist numbs the area and drills the tooth, filing it down to make room for the crown. Then, he or she makes an impression of the tooth to send to a lab. The hole in the tooth is covered with a temporary filling while you wait for your crown. It arrives at the dentist’s office two or three weeks later. You return for another appointment. The dentist numbs the area, removes the temporary filling and glues the crown in place. Now, new technology has produced a better way. My dentist happened to be one of the approximately 10 percent who use CAD/CAM — computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing — to create a crown while a patient waits. The result is a ceramic crown that can be glued in place. You are done less than an hour after you first sit down in the dentist’s chair. Maybe you think that dentists are stuck in the technological dark ages, waving pliers and babbling about fluoride. In truth, the profession has quietly embraced sophisticated technology, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon a prime example. The process starts the same way it used to: The area is numbed, and the dentist drills the tooth to shape it for the crown. But instead of making an impression of the tooth, the dentist uses a tiny camera to create a three-dimensional image of the drilled tooth. A computer program uses that to construct an image of what the tooth will look like with the crown in place. I could see it on the computer screen — a tooth that looked just like mine would when I left the dentist’s office. Then all the details — the size and shape, the little ridges and indentations — are transmitted to a machine in an adjacent room that mills the crown from a chunk of porcelain. The result is an exact replica of what I saw on the computer screen. When the crown is ready, about 15 minutes later, the dentist glues it in. I was thrilled, if it is possible to be thrilled with a visit to a dentist. Sirona, a company with 95 percent of the market for CAD/CAM crowns, began distributing its system, Cerec, in the 1990s, said Roddy MacLeod, a vice president of Sirona, adding that the technology had gone through several generations of upgrades. The system costs the dentist about $100,000. (The company provides a registry of dentists who offer it at findcerec.com.) Some dentists who use it, like Dr. Matthew Messina of Cleveland, a spokesman for the American Dental Association, do not charge more for CAD/CAM crowns. “The market won’t bear charging more,” Dr. Messina said. Still, Dr. Stephen Campbell, a prosthodontist at the University of Illinois at Chicago, said that before dentists invest in the equipment they should have a business plan to recoup their costs. For many, that can mean charging more for a CAD/CAM crown. (Prosthodontists are dentists with specialty training in aesthetic and reconstructive procedures, implants and digital technologies.) There are limitations to the use of the technique, though. The crown I had made, Dr. Campbell said, “is a good way to do a simple little restoration.” The tooth, for example, cannot have broken off below the gumline or the scanning device will not be able to make a precise 3-D image. And since the crown is carved from a solid ceramic block, it cannot have the complex visual nuances of a real tooth. Outside labs can create crowns for teeth that are highly visible, like front teeth, and that look exactly like the real thing. They use a variety of techniques and materials, including alloys, to make crowns that are strong enough to withstand the forces on back teeth and are realistic enough in their coloring to be used on front teeth. But even when an outside lab makes the crown, computerized systems come into play, Dr. Campbell said, although patients may not realize it. The cast made from a mold of a tooth is scanned and digitized, and the central lab sends back an image of what the crown will look like. The dentist can approve it or ask for modifications. Then, using machines that can cost one million dollars, the lab makes a crown that can fit a tooth broken below the gum line or that fits and matches a front tooth. In the past, Dr. Campbell said, the dentist and patient had little control over the result. “It is what it is,” he said. The new technology is even more important for tooth implants, where precision is critical. Dentists start by implanting a sort of artificial root in the bone to hold the artificial tooth in place. But it is not the same as a real root, which lets the tooth move and flex. Then, the dentist puts a screw in a sort of artificial tooth stub and attaches it to the artificial root. A crown goes on top of the stub. It is best if the stub is custom-designed for the patient, Dr. Campbell said. The fit must be precise. If not, parts of the implant can break and the implant can fail. These days, Dr. Campbell said, almost half of all-ceramic crowns and many implant stubs are made with this behind-the-scenes CAD/CAM technology, and he encouraged patients who need crowns or implants to ask their dentists if they use it. If not, he said, they might want to find a dentist who does. “It’s an incredible world right now,” he said. “What they are doing is so cool.” A version of this article appears in print on 10/09/2012, on page D7 of the NewYork edition with the headline: A New Tooth, Made to Order in Under an Hour. well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/08/a-new-tooth-made-to-order-in-under-an-hour/
Medical people always think huge and high-dollar. Since 3D printing has grown so rapidly, should some have thought of that obvious possibility before signing for the quarter-mil machine? Since they're in it for the money and charge multiple times what foreign dentists do for the same work, I'm finding it hard to sympathize. In amerika this is all a factor of Jue lawyers being such happy ambulance-chasers and Jue judges gaily accommodating them in their litigation sprees, with insurance companies only too happy to fan the flames. It would be lovely if medical people would stand up and say ENUFF ALREADY, NO MORE JEW VAMPIRISM! IT'S RUINING EVERYTHING! But it ain't gonna happen this year. (Funny, age also means quality in these cases :-)
Patients would obviously prefer to have tooth "rebuilt" in one session so dentists without a fabricator would lose business. And with them charging $1000+ per tooth it won't take long to recover capital cost. Oddly, the dentist I went to didn't even do implants but still bought the machine. Last I heard they 3-D'd a tooth in a mouse and don't know if they're even teaching 3-D in dental schools. Who knows, may have to go to Japan or China for a 3-D tooth.
Even if it's half or 1/3 the cost? What makes me think dentists won't even be needed for this process soon thanks to printing.
#11. To: NeoconsNailed (#10)
Healthline → Healthline News → Dentists Will Soon Print Antibacterial 3-D Teeth Written by Larry Barrett | Published on January 13, 2016 New technology allows dentists to print out replacement teeth, complete with ammonium salts that kill bacteria in the mouth. The process may lead to fewer visits to the dentist’s office. 3D Teeth The rapid evolution of 3-D printing technology in the dental industry will soon expand beyond simply creating crowns or dentures to incorporate chemicals that fight the bacteria that cause tooth decay and infection in the first place. While it's still early in the game, researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have developed an antimicrobial plastic infused with quaternary ammonium salts that can eventually be used with 3-D printers to manufacture a variety of bacteria-zapping dental appliances within minutes, right in a dentist’s office. In a study published in the scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials, the research team said it printed out two sets of replacement teeth — one with the ammonium salts mixed into the dental resin and the other without. They found that after swiping both sets of teeth with the bacteria Streptococcus mutans, 99 percent of the bacteria was eliminated from the treated teeth while almost all of the bacteria remained on the control set. Good vs. Bad Bacteria This combination of digital prowess combined with the added promise of longer-lasting and healthier teeth does raise an important question: Is eradicating all this bacteria from patients’ mouths such a great idea? Officials at the American Dental Association (ADA) told Healthline that some colonization of bacteria is actually necessary for oral health. Without neutral or helpful bacteria, there's a chance patients' mouths could be colonized by other harmful organisms. However, the ADA says that there's no reason, thus far, to think that dental restorations made from this 3-D printable resin will kill all the bacteria. After all, there are hundreds of species of bacteria in the human mouth. "Given that the material works on contact, it is likely that teeth or fillings made from the material would only kill bacteria in a limited radius," ADA officials said. "Whether teeth or fillings made from this material could have any effect on other bacterial strains, or even function in a real human mouth, has not yet been determined." 3D Teeth The next step will be more extensive testing on the treated teeth to see how they hold up under longer periods of exposure to saliva, toothpaste, and other variables. Once these "enhanced" dental appliances pass muster in the lab and hold up to the rigors of clinical trials in patients' mouths, they will become the latest innovation for an industry that has enthusiastically embraced 3-D printing and digital technology. For decades, patients in need of a crown, a bridge, or dentures had an impression made during their first appointment. That impression was then sent out to the lab to create a plaster stone model from which the new crown or tooth was created. This would take a couple days or a couple weeks. At the second appointment, the patient had the new tooth or crown installed. The dentist then shaved and customized some of the rough or imprecise edges, or grooves to make the new tooth fit comfortably. Read More: Adults Head to the Dentist to Straighten Teeth » Digital Dentistry With 3-D printers, a patient’s mouth is now digitally scanned by a wand that stores the file on a computer. This image is then manipulated using CAD software to precisely measure and design the new tooth. The file is then sent to the 3-D printer where the tooth can be manufactured in minutes, allowing the patient to complete the procedure in one office visit. Those digital files can be stored onsite or hosted in the cloud, keeping a patient's dental history a click away and eliminating the need to store thousands of plaster molds in offices and labs around the world. SmarTech Markets Publishing, a Virginia-based market research and analysis firm for the 3-D printing and additive manufacturer sector, predicts that consumption of polymers by the 3-D printing industry will surge to more than $4.3 billion by 2023. What began as a more efficient way to manufacture dental crowns and bridges through printed lost wax casting patterns has moved well beyond that today. Scott Dunham, SmarTech Markets "What began as a more efficient way to manufacture dental crowns and bridges through printed lost wax casting patterns has moved well beyond that today," said Scott Dunham, vice president of research at SmarTech Markets. "Because dental treatments can be made digitally with the absolute best accuracy using 3-D printed casting patterns or directly 3-D printed components, the fit and finish of the in-mouth solution is unmatched by traditional methods," he said. In the years ahead, as more sophisticated dental products and appliances come to the market, Dunham said dentists will integrate processes into their own practices that traditionally have been sent out to labs, dramatically reducing the total time of treatment for patients. "The result to patients is much higher quality of care and, typically, fewer visits to the dentist," he said. http://www.healthline.com/health-news/dentists-will-soon-print-antibacterial-3d-teeth-011316 ------------------------------------------------------------------- Science Tooth replacement in prospect after scientists grow teeth from mouse cells Researchers say hybrid of human gum cells and mouse stem cells raises possibility of growing new teeth on patient's jaw Missing or diseased teeth could one day be replaced with new ones grown from the patient's cells, researchers said. @David_Batty Saturday 9 March 2013 10.37 GMT Last modified on Thursday 11 February 2016 People may in future be able to have missing or diseased teeth replaced with ones grown from cells taken from their own mouth, scientists have predicted. Hybrid teeth created by combining human gum cells and stem cells from mouse teeth have been grown in laboratory mice by researchers who hope the work could lead to dentures being superseded by new teeth grown on a patient's jaw. The mixture of mouse and human cells was transplanted into adult mouse kidneys and grew into recognisable tooth structures coated in enamel with viable developing roots, according to a study published in the Journal Of Dental Research. Two kinds of cell were used to make the bioengineered teeth. Epithelial "surface lining" cells were taken from human gum tissue and mesenchymal stem cells from the mouse embryos. Mesenchymal cells can develop into a range of different tissues, including bone, cartilage and fat. Professor Paul Sharpe, who led the research at King's College London's dental institute, said: "Epithelial cells derived from adult human gum tissue are capable of responding to tooth-inducing signals from embryonic tooth mesenchyme in an appropriate way to contribute to tooth crown and root formation and give rise to relevant differentiated cell types, following in-vitro culture. "These easily accessible epithelial cells are thus a realistic source for consideration in human biotooth formation. The next major challenge is to identify a way to culture adult human mesenchymal cells to be tooth-inducing, as at the moment we can only make embryonic mesenchymal cells do this." Previous research has shown that embryonic teeth are capable of developing normally in the adult mouth. "What is required is the identification of adult sources of human epithelial and mesenchymal cells that can be obtained in sufficient numbers to make biotooth formation a viable alternative to dental implants," said Sharpe. http://www.theguardian.com/scien...h-replacement-mouse-cells more detailed account: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/257480.php
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#5. To: NeoconsNailed (#1)
Do you brush with bar soap
#6. To: Tatarewicz (#5)
#7. To: NeoconsNailed (#6)
($250k sounds awfully steep???)
#8. To: Tatarewicz (#7)
#9. To: NeoconsNailed (#8)
#10. To: Tatarewicz (#9)
Patients would obviously prefer to have tooth "rebuilt" in one session
Replies to Comment # 10. I got 3-D and stem cell tooth experimentation mixed up. Mouse involved in stem cell study.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 10.