Dentistry Archives

Frost and Sullivan has issued a Best Practice Award to Strauman for their SLAactive dental surface implant technology. This surfacing chemistry cuts healing times for replacements, and improves outcomes:

SLActive implants are made of highly pure titanium and are specially treated to give them an optimal surface topography for bone cells to attach themselves. Using an innovative manufacturing process, the surface is conditioned in nitrogen and immediately preserved in an isotonic saline solution. This maintains its high surface activity, which would otherwise be lost due to reaction with the atmosphere. On the basis of preclinical and clinical results, these properties accelerate the healing process of osseointegration with the result that early bone-to-implant contact is significantly increased. This in turn results in greater implant stability and reduces the risk of implant failure by up to 60%.

Read More

Disasters of Biblical proportions sometimes require old-fashioned techniques for identifying the victims. According to New Scientist, after much publicity for DNA identification, the time-honored process of dental identification has proven its worth in the post-tsunami efforts:

The scale of the disaster made the detection effort particularly difficult. Teams were dealing with thousands of bodies in a hot, wet climate, where roads and other infrastructure had been destroyed and lab facilities were virtually non-existent. In other recent disasters, such as 9/11 and the massacres in the former Yugoslavia, DNA identification proved to be the most useful tool. But in Thailand neither the time nor the facilities were available.

Read More

Research presented yesterday at the Institute of Physics conference EMAG-NANO 2005 shows that nanospheres composed of a ceramic material called hydroxyapatite could be a cure for sensitive teeth:

Sensitive teeth or ‘dental hypersensitivity’ is a condition that arises when the dentine of the tooth is exposed. The dentine is made up of thousands of tiny fluid-filled channels which radiate outwards from the nerve endings at the centre of the tooth. Heat, some chemicals, and physical contact can cause the fluid in these channels to move – in or out – triggering the nerve endings and causing sharp pain.

Read More

University of Florida researchers are experimenting with relaxin to augment the mechanical action of retainers and braces:

Relaxin is best known as the hormone that helps women’s pelvic ligaments stretch in preparation for giving birth. It does this by softening collagen and elastin in the tissues, loosening strong, cord-like fibers until they have the consistency of limp spaghetti noodles.

Read More