Free Republic

Japanese scientists said Friday they had derived stem cells from wisdom teeth, opening another way to study deadly diseases without the ethical controversy of using embryos... (AFP articles cannot be republished)Click here for the article.

Excerpt - Many FOMHs (Friends of Mike Huckabee) have been buzzing about the former governor’s new dental work. In fact, one longtime Huckabee pal, who asked not to be named, confirmed yesterday that Huckabee has traded in his God-given smile, which left a lot to be desired, for porcelain veneers. “It’s no secret that his (Huckabee’s) teeth were in bad shape,” the Huckabee friend said. “But, make no mistake about it, his new blinding-white grill will make Jessica Simpson jealous.” There is now visual evidence of Huckabee’s cosmetic dentistry. Here’s the before from Nov. 2007: ~ snip ~

NEWS    It's a 26ft Jaws and it sucks... Big sucker ... the shark   By VIRGINIA WHEELER Published: Today   A MASSIVE Arctic shark that sucks up seals whole and may live for 200 years is being studied by boffins for the first time. The mysterious Greenland shark’s mouth with hundreds of teeth is UNDER its body — so it cruises along the ocean bed scooping up prey. Baffled boffins say whole reindeer and polar bear heads have also been found in stomachs of the deep-sea monsters, which can be 26ft long. They are cannibalistic but their flesh...

Warning for teens: Teeth and jewelry don't mix Skin piercings might be the rage among teens, but researchers from Tel Aviv University have found good reasons to think twice about piercing one's tongue or lip. Dr. Liran Levin, a dentist from the Department of Oral Rehabilitation, School of Dental Medicine at Tel Aviv University has found that about 15 to 20 percent of teens with oral piercings are at high risk for both tooth fractures and gum disease. Resulting tooth fractures as well as periodontal problems, he says, can lead to anterior (front) tooth loss later in life. High rates...

The old wives tale "for every child the mother loses a tooth" has some validity, a New York University dental professor has found. Women who have more children are more likely to have missing teeth, according to a nationwide study of 2,635 women by Dr. Stefanie Russell, an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology & Health Promotion, which was published today on the Web site of the American Journal of Public Health. Dr. Russell's conclusions are based on information on white and black non-Hispanic women ages 18-64 who reported at least one pregnancy in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey,...

Fluoride exposure is rising and causing children’s tooth imperfections, ranging from white spots to brownish discolorations and pitting (fluorosis), dentist Elivir Dincer reports in the New York State Dental Journal. (1) “Such changes in the tooth’s appearance can affect the child’s self-esteem which makes early prevention that much more critical,” writes Dincer. Children, aged 2 to 7 years, can swallow about one-quarter milligram of fluoride with every brushing because their swallowing reflexes are not fully developed, reports Dincer. “Children from the age of 6-months to 3-years should not have more than one-quarter milligram of fluoride per day. Brushing the teeth...

Experimental chewy mint beats tooth decay 09th April 2008 A new chewable mint looks set to solve the worldwide problem of tooth decay. BasicMints is an experimental fluoride-free treatment designed to mimic a component in human saliva that neutralises acids in the mouth that can erode tooth enamel. US researchers tested the product on 200 children – aged between 10-and-a-half and 11 – over a year. The results show that children who were administered BasicMints had 62% fewer cavities in their molars when the year was up, compared to children in the placebo group. The research team, from New York's...

Dental fillings could become a thing of the past By Laura Clout  Last Updated: 12:23am BST 05/04/2008     Dentists will one day be able to dispense with fillings and help decaying teeth repair themselves, scientists believe.Researchers say they have developed a way of regrowing dentine, the yellow mineral substance in the middle of teeth that is most affected by decay. They hope that within a decade, dentists will be able to use the technique and eliminate the need for fillings.Prof Sally Marshall, of the University of California, said the technique involves painting a calcium solution onto the damaged dentine.This...

"Austin Powers move over:bad teeth afflict politicians..."

Yesterday, we noted the journalistic morals of the George Soros-funded Minnesota Monitor, which ran a Molly Priesmeyer article on its front page that made fun of John McCain’s teeth. Priesmeyer didn’t bother to research why his teeth look like “a mess of yellowed and contorted Chiclets” — which was that his torturers in Vietnam smashed his teeth to the gumline. Today, the MinnMon, which gets its funding from Center for Independent Media, continues to demonstrate the ethics of the Sorosphere. After acknowledging the fact that she didn’t bother to research her topic, Priesmeyer has yet to write a correction or...

Drudge has this on his home page right now. ~excerpt~ "I admire the fact he's trying to change the environment," Rollins says. "What I have to do is make sure that my anger with a guy like Romney, whose teeth I want to knock out, doesn't get in the way of my thought process." Full article is available here.

Ever had this happen to you? It's really kind of weird.

BARBOURVILLE, Ky. — In the 18 years he has been visiting nursing homes, seeing patients in his private practice and, more recently, driving his mobile dental clinic through Appalachian hills and hollows, Dr. Edwin E. Smith has seen the extremes of neglect. He has seen the shame of a 14-year-old girl who would not lift her head because she had lost most of her teeth from malnutrition, and the do-it-yourself pride of an elderly mountain man who, unable to afford a dentist, pulled his own infected teeth with a pair of pliers and a swig of peroxide. He has seen...

Bioden has discovered a new method of extracting stem cells that is attracting research interest from across the world. Experts from across the globe are sending milk teeth to Bioeden in Daresbury following the discovery by US cellular biologist Dr Shi, based at the UK lab, that stem cells can be found in teeth. Dentist David James from the bioscience firm has secured a patent on the method used to extract stem cells from milk teeth and explained to the Warrington Guardian that despite working with scientists from India, Italy and the US, Daresbury proved the best location for the...

Falling numbers of NHS dentists are forcing many patients to go without treatment or even try pulling out their own teeth, a study has revealed. Cost is a major factor. Almost a fifth (19%) of those questioned said they had missed out on dental work because of the cost. The research found 6% had even resorted to treating themselves because they could not find a dentist. The 5,000-plus patients who were interviewed also spoke of taking out their own teeth or fixing broken crowns with glue. One person in Lancashire said he had carried out 14 separate extractions with a...

Large numbers of people are going without dental treatment and some even report extracting their own teeth because they cannot find an NHS dentist in their area, a survey reveals today. The Dentistry Watch survey of more than 5,000 people, from the Commission for Patient and Public Involvement in Health, found widespread unhappiness among both patients and dentists despite government reforms to increase the availability of NHS dentistry. More than three-quarters of those who have a private dentist consider they were forced into it because their own dentist went private or they could not find an NHS dentist. Just over...

Two molar teeth of around 63,400 years old show that Neanderthal predecessors of humans may have been dental hygiene fans, the Web site of newspaper El Pais reported on Tuesday. The teeth have "grooves formed by the passage of a pointed object, which confirms the use of a small stick for cleaning the mouth," Paleontology Professor Juan Luis Asuarga told reporters, presenting an archaeological find in Madrid. The fossils, unearthed in Pinilla del Valle, are the first human examples found in the Madrid region in 25 years, the regional government's culture department said.......

How do you pull a tooth from a Bengal tiger? The answer, of course, is very carefully. British dentist Paul Cassar and Lisa Milella, a veterinary surgeon specialising in animal dentistry, recently travelled to India to treat some unusual patients. Mohan, a full-grown male tiger weighing more than 400lbs, and with paws the size of small dinner plates, and Maneka, a female, are former circus performers who now live in a rescue centre in Bannerghatta near Bangalore in southern India. The centre is run by the Sussex-based charity International Animal Rescue (IAR) which also has a rescue centre for bears...

Opening King Tut's tomb brought to light treasures and curses hidden for thousands of years. One of the lat ter still haunts us -- the curse of King Tut's tooth. Tut, like many teenagers, needed a tooth extraction, in his case, an impacted wisdom tooth. Sadly, ancient Egyptian dentistry was unable to help the boy-pharaoh, as extractions were done only on very loose teeth, by the gentle touch of fingers. Even forceps (pliers) were probably not employed until long after Tut died. Astonishingly, modern dental extraction procedures are still mired in the technology of the an cient world. Recently, I...

OLYMPIA, Wash. - An oral surgeon who temporarily implanted fake boar tusks in his assistant's mouth as a practical joke and got sued for it has gotten the state's high court to back up his gag. Dr. Robert Woo of Auburn had put in the phony tusks while the woman was under anesthesia for a different procedure. He took them out before she awoke, but he first shot photos that eventually made it around the office. The employee, Tina Alberts, felt so humiliated when she saw the pictures that she quit and sued her boss.

Prankster dentist wins case against insurer27 Jul 2007, 0733 hrs IST,AP OLYMPIA, WASHINGTON: An oral surgeon who played a practical joke on his assistant by implanting fake boar tusks in her mouth while she was under anesthesia was sued for it, but ended up getting a last laugh. Dr. Robert Woo, who is originally from Hong Kong, took photos of her porcine dental work that later made the rounds. The employee, Tina Alberts, felt humiliated and quit, later suing her boss. When Woo's insurance company, Fireman's Fund, would not deal with the lawsuit, Woo settled out of court with...

The European Commission today confirmed reception of a formal notification from the Spanish Authorities relating to a decision to withdraw from the Spanish market two brands of toothpaste of Chinese origin because of a risk to public health. The formal notification is part of the EU wide Rapid Alert System for non-food dangerous products (RAPEX), that alerts and co-ordinates an EU wide response to dangerous consumer goods found in the Single Market. The notification relates to two brands of toothpaste: Spearmint and Trileaf Spearmint. Spanish laboratory tests have detected the presence of DEG (diethylene glycol) a substance used in antifreeze...

Police: Unlicensed Dentist Operated on Immigrants Last Update:5/2/2007 12:24:51 PM Web Editor: Bernie O'Donnell CARROLLTON, Ga. (AP) -- Authorities have arrested an illegal immigrant on charges that he ran an unlicensed dental practice out of his home in Carrollton. Ernesto Estrado is accused of performing procedures on hundreds of illegal immigrants who were too afraid to go to a licensed dentist. Authorities say the man used pliers, box cutters and etching blades he bought at a hardware store to pull teeth, fill cavities and create dentures. Authorities searched his home and found prescription painkillers, hypodermic needles and a ledger that...

[A]ncient tartar-encrusted teeth may be a biological gold mine for scientists, thanks to a new technique for extracting food particles from teeth that once belonged to prehistoric humans. The method already has solved a mystery surrounding what early coastal Brazilians ate. In the future, similar studies may reveal clues about other ancient diets, particularly in areas with little plant preservation from earlier times... Eggers explained that ancient tartar could reveal what an individual ate in the days or weeks before death. Evidence suggests some prehistoric populations cleaned their teeth -- using fibrous foods and shell fragments as natural abrasives --...

Denture wearers take heart. Scientists in Japan claim they have for the first time developed a reliable way to generate new mouse teeth in a Petri dish. Although any application to humans is years away, the team hopes the new approach could eventually lead to the regeneration of entire organs in the lab. Bioengeered organs are still in the earliest stage of development. Last year, Anthony Atala of Wake Forest University Medical School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and his colleagues transplanted some lab-grown bladders into human patients, a first for a discrete, complex organ. Efforts to grow working teeth, however,...

Source: Harvard School of Public Health Date: January 17, 2007 Link Found Between Periodontal Disease And Pancreatic Cancer Science Daily — Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer death in the U.S.; more than 30,000 Americans are expected to die from the disease this year. It is an extremely difficult cancer to treat and little is known about what causes it. One established risk factor in pancreatic cancer is cigarette smoking; other links have been made to obesity, diabetes type 2 and insulin resistance. In a new study, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH) and...

Stem cells from may help scientists grow parts of teeth you may need in the future. Researchers from University of Southern California School of Dentistry have regenerated tooth roots and ligaments to restore tooth function in pigs. They believe this breakthrough looks very promising to use in people. Scientists used stem cells harvested from the extracted wisdom teeth of 18-to 20-year-olds to create enough root and ligament structure to support the restoration of a crown in their pig model. The restoration was similar to the original tooth in function and strength. The technique uses stem cells harvested from the root...

The promise of stem cells may someday help kids say goodbye to the dreaded root canal, scientists report.   A new, less-invasive treatment leaves the soft inner pulp intact, allowing the young tooth's stem cells to continue tooth formation.  "Removing infected tissue by root canal is invasive, and, by doing that, we stop the tooth's continuous maturation process and leave behind a child with a thin eggshell of a tooth that is weak and susceptible to fracture," explained researcher Dr. George T.-J. Huang, an endodontist (root canal specialist) and an associate professor with the University of Maryland's College of Dental Surgery. ...

Surfer fights off shark attack near Florence jetty    VIDEO   FLORENCE, Ore. - A surfer says he will return to the ocean after he was attacked by a shark that bit his foot, requiring more than 30 stitches. Tom Larson was surfing Tuesday with a small group off the South Jetty when his buddy, Keenan Keeley, thought he saw a dorsal fin. "We were like, 'No, dude, that's a porpoise,"' the 23-year-old welder from Eugene said. "We'd seen some porpoises in the water earlier." Larson said conditions appeared safe - no wind, no ominous overcast skies, no sea...

A team of researchers has succeeded in engineering stem cells taken from tooth germ to quickly develop into liver or bone tissue, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology's Research Institute (AIST) for Cell Engineering said. A joint team of scientists from the institute and Osaka University succeeded in repairing damaged liver and bones in rats using stem cells taken from wisdom tooth germ. The finding raises hopes of developing regenerative medicine using wisdom teeth germ taken from people during orthodontic treatments. Tooth germ disappears as a tooth is formed, but that of a wisdom tooth stays in...

Former US president Jimmy Carter lashed out at British Prime Minister Tony Blair for being "so compliant and subservient" to the Bush administration in Washington. "I have been surprised and extremely disappointed with Tony Blair's behaviour," Carter told the Sunday Telegraph newspaper as he promoted his new book "Faith and Freedom." "I think that, more than any other person in the world, the prime minister could have had a moderating influence on Washington, and he has not," said the 81-year-old former head of state. He faulted Blair for not having been a constraint on US President George W. Bush's decision...

Source: University of Washington Released: Mon 07-Aug-2006, 15:10 ET Ancient Bison Teeth Provide Window on Past Great Plains Climate, Vegetation Scientists have devised a way to use the fossil teeth of ancient bison as a tool to reconstruct historic climate and vegetation changes in America's breadbasket, the Great Plains.The third molar from a bison jawbone grows to 3 inches in length and has several times more surface area than a quarter. Newswise — A University of Washington researcher has devised a way to use the fossil teeth of ancient bison as a tool to reconstruct historic climate and vegetation changes...

Teen Uses Discovery Channel Tip To Escape Alligator Attack Mom: Tip To Poke Eye With Thumb Saved Son's Life   POSTED: 9:29 pm EDT July 23, 2006 UPDATED: 9:58 pm EDT July 23, 2006   DELAND, Fla. -- A 16-year-old being dragged into a Central Florida lake by a large alligator used a tip he watched on the Discovery Channel to break free and likely save his life, according to a Local 6 News report.Corey Workman was in a remote area of the St. John's River in Volusia County, Fla., just before midnight Saturday, throwing rocks and sticks into...

A fish caught in Lubbock, Texas, with teeth that look like they belong to a human has baffled wildlife officials in the area, according to a report.

AUSTIN, Texas, July 17 (UPI) -- A Texas company has reportedly started freezing stem cells taken from baby teeth pulp tissue in hopes the cells might some day lead to disease treatments. BioEden Inc., which opened for business last week, told the Austin (Texas) American-Statesman, it's betting the science eventually will catch up with its aspirations. "We are absolutely confident this will work," Jeff Johnson, president of Austin's BioEden, told the newspaper. "All indications are this is a wonderful source of stem cells." The company said it expects baby teeth stem cells might eventually be used for bone, teeth nerve...

Hockey players, rejoice! A team of University of Alberta researchers has created technology to regrow teeth—the first time scientists have been able to reform human dental tissue. Using low-intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS), Dr. Tarak El-Bialy from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and Dr. Jie Chen and Dr. Ying Tsui from the Faculty of Engineering have created a miniaturized system-on-a-chip that offers a non-invasive and novel way to stimulate jaw growth and dental tissue healing. “It’s very exciting because we have shown the results and actually have something you can touch and feel that will impact the health of...

Snaggle-toothed hockey players and sugar lovers may soon rejoice as Canadian scientists said they have created the first device able to re-grow teeth and bones. The researchers at the University of Alberta in Edmonton filed patents earlier this month in the United States for the tool based on low-intensity pulsed ultrasound technology after testing it on a dozen dental patients in Canada. "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...

FRIDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) -- Sports and energy drinks can be wonderful potions that hydrate top-tier athletes and weekend warriors alike. But here's some advice about their use, not from your trainer or your coach, but from a dental school professor: If you choose to use them, chug them. Don't sip or savor them all day. That's what J. Anthony von Fraunhofer, director of biomaterials research at the University of Maryland Dental School in Baltimore suggests. Otherwise, the drinks could be eating away your enamel, setting you up for tooth decay and other dental problems. Energy drinks and citrus-flavored...

ROCHDALE, England, May 2 — "I snapped it out myself," said William Kelly, 43, describing his most recent dental procedure, the autoextraction of one of his upper teeth. Now it is a jagged black stump, and the pain gnawing at Mr. Kelly's mouth has transferred itself to a different tooth, mottled and rickety, on the other side of his mouth. "I'm in the middle of pulling that one out, too," he said. It is easy to be mean about British teeth. Mike Myers's mouth is a joke in itself in the "Austin Powers" movies. In a "Simpsons" episode, dentalphobic children...

Sacramento -- The state's political watchdog agency has one-third fewer employees today than it did in 1990 to carry out its mandate of regulating and prosecuting scofflaws. Budget cuts in recent years have hit the Fair Political Practices Commission so hard that it has been forced to cut staff and limit its activities. Things got so bad last fall that the agency was forced to prematurely drop 225 investigations of alleged ethics violations. Still, lawmakers don't seem to be in any rush to revitalize the commission and restore its budget. A bill that would add $2 million to the commission's...

More from that Ethiopian fossil find that sends hominid roots back more than 4 million years.

The NRC reports that adults drinking 2 liters of water fluoridated at 4 mg/L (or 8 milligrams of fluoride) daily risk broken bones and joint pain. EPA employees reported this years ago; but were ignored.

The high levels of fluoride that occur naturally in some drinking water can cause tooth and bone damage and should be reduced, the National Research Council said Wednesday. The study did not analyze the benefits or risks of adding fluoride to drinking water. Instead it looked at the current maximum limit of 4 milligrams per liter. Approximately 200,000 people live in communities where that level occurs naturally in water. The Council suggested further studies to establish a new maximum level, but noted that the problems associated with exposure to fluoride are very small at 2 milligrams per liter and less....

RED wine could hold the key to preventing and treating serious gum disease, research suggests. Components found in the tipple, called polyphenols, were found to target molecules which attack cells causing periodontal disease. This affects the gums and the bone that surrounds and supports teeth, often causing teeth to move and fall out. Around 15 per cent of those aged 21 to 50 suffer from periodontitis, rising to 65 per cent of those over 50. Scientists in Quebec, Canada, suggest the polyphenols in red wine could be harnessed to tackle this disease. However, people should not rush for the wine...

Working late in the developmental biology lab one night, Matthew Harris of the University of Wisconsin noticed that the beak of a mutant chicken embryo he was examining had fallen off. Upon closer examination, he found that the snubbed beak of the mutant chicken had tiny bumps and protuberances along the edge of its beak that looked like teeth, alligator teeth to be specific. The accidental discovery revealed that chickens retain the ability to grow teeth, even though birds lost this feature long ago. The finding also resurrected the controversial theory of one of the founders of comparative anatomy, Etienne...

California Cavity-Epidemic Study Reveals Fluoridation is Ineffective New York – February 14 -- Fluoridated California communities have huge cavity rates and large dentist-neglected populations, according to a recent California study,1 reports the New York State Coalition Opposed to Fluoridation (NYSCOF). Although dentistry promises steep cavity reductions with fluoride-laced water supplies, that’s not happening in California which is in the midst of a cavity epidemic.2 For example: fluoridated Long Beach children have more cavities (75%) 3 than California state (71%) despite a state-wide fluoridation rate about one-fourth that of Long Beach. California is 27% fluoridated. Los Angeles County is 44% fluoridated,4...

Viking warriors filed deep grooves in their teeth, and they likely had to smile broadly to show them off, according to new finds in four major Viking Age cemeteries in Sweden. Caroline Arcini of Sweden's National Heritage Board analyzed 557 skeletons of men, women and children from between 800 and 1050 A.D. They discovered that 22 of the men bore deep, horizontal grooves across the upper front teeth. "The marks are traces of deliberate dental modifications ... they are so well-made that most likely they were filed by a person of great skill," Arcini wrote in the current issue of...

New York - January 16, 2006 - Fluoride, added to water supplies, is touted as a tooth decay preventive. Science increasingly shows fluoridation is ineffective, harmful and a waste of money. But the politics of organized dentistry keeps fluoridated water flowing. Last year, 2005, was a very successful year for the Fluoride Action Network (FAN) and their affiliated groups for getting the truth out and bringing negative fluoride science to the media’s attention. Voters rejected fluoridation in at least nine referenda including Bellingham, Washington, where fluoridationists spent $260,000 to lose against a small group of volunteers armed with the truth...

A two-year study in the latest issue of the Journal of Clinical Dentistry found that CaviStat, a calcium/arginine-based product, was more effective than fluoride in fighting tooth decay when used in toothpaste form. The study, involving 726 children, found the group using CaviStat had 58 percent fewer cavities than those using over-the-counter fluoride toothpaste.

TEETH The old sergeant and his platoon were patrolling the road to Baghdad Airport and he wasn’t happy about it. They had pulled this duty before and it was hard and dangerous work. But someone had to do it.