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    Today in Tech

    Say goodbye to cavities: New gel could help your teeth fix themselves

    Advanced dental liquid may spell the end of painful drilling

    Being told you have a cavity is one of the most cringe-worthy bits of information that could ever grace your ears. Going under the dentist's drill to have a pearly white repaired is expensive, time-consuming, and sometimes painful, but that may soon change thanks to researchers at the University of Leeds' School of Chemistry. A high-tech fluid is being developed there that could help your teeth repair themselves before they ever become a problem.

    When the liquid comes into contact with a decaying tooth, it penetrates the microscopic pores on the tooth's surface and forms a gel. This gel acts like a calcium magnet, drawing precious minerals into the offending tooth and repairing it from the inside out. Early testing at the University suggests that the new technology has a bright future, and the advanced liquid appears to be doing just what it was designed to do.

    Professor Jennifer Kirkham of the Leeds Dental Institute is understandably excited, stating, "This may sound too good to be true, but we are essentially helping acid-damaged teeth to regenerate themselves. It is a totally natural non-surgical repair process and is entirely pain-free too." Indeed, it does sound too good to be true, but if the magical tooth-regenerating serum ends up gracing your local dentist, it just might take the sting out of your next visit.

    (Source)

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    378 comments

    • Mitra Khademi  •  8 mths ago
      This is a revolutionary step in dentistry.
    • Jaz  •  8 mths ago
      The key sentence is this: This helps Acid -damaged tooth ... and that's all ;)
    • C.  •  9 mths ago
      What a fine educated bunch.
    • chuck  •  9 mths ago
      and as a side effect the calcium leaves all your bones and you turn into a giant tooth... you also get diarrhea, head ache, vomiting and chance of sudden death... just like all the other drugs on the market
    • Emilyrose3rd  •  9 mths ago
      Yeah right! And what is something like that going to do to the mouth and gums? I would never trust any substance like being advertised here. Never. I would rather have a few cavities than cancer of the mouth or gums!!!
    • Yahoosucks!  •  9 mths ago
      It would be wonderful if it works and if we get access to it that takes the dentist out of the equation. #$%$ dentists, at least half of them are greedy and dishonest #$%$
    • richard  •  9 mths ago
      do we really believe it ??????????
    • Yahoo!  •  9 mths ago
      and I've created a can of dogshit fertilizer that guarantees every dog will take a #$%$ on and make that grass grow. any takers?
    • Joe  •  9 mths ago
      YEAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    • L  •  9 mths ago
      I doubt if the dentists will use it to help people because there would no profit to them.
      • Dustin B 9 mths ago
        Its probably $200 per dose like any new drug.
      • Joe 9 mths ago
        Might still need to have the teeth scraped of calculus....
    • PitaJean  •  9 mths ago
      well if your teeth are damaged by acid but you don't have a cavity yet will you still be able to have that serum put on your teeth or is it just strictly for cavities? I hope it'll be for the former and not the latter. I'll be keeping tabs on this story.
    • Dennis  •  9 mths ago
      It will fix your teeth but give you cancer 20 years after it's applied.
    • Maurice  •  9 mths ago
      One should not have to go to the dentist to get this stuff. It should be able to be bought without any prescription at your local pharmacy. I'm not saying it has to be dirt cheap; let the market figure the price out. Just put it out there so people can use it. Anybody who tries to lobby against it should have their names made known to the public so they will be targets for a good and just old fashioned BEAT DOWN.
    • The Alpha Male  •  9 mths ago
      Blah... Blah... Blah...
    • Tony  •  9 mths ago
      To the people who say this will be blocked by dentists - no, it won't, because there are thousands of people who already don't go to dentists at all because they are terrified of the procedures or the pain. A painless solution will help them enormously.

      But it won't repair broken teeth and it won't heal gum infections, it won't straighten teeth and it won't stop pain caused by bacteria that have eroded the tooth so badly the dentin is also part of the cavity and the nerve is exposed.
    • A Yahoo! User  •  9 mths ago
      People don't go to dentists because they are afraid of a little pain. They don't go because of the sky-high prices for any dental work! This gel, if it makes it to the dentists in the US, will cost approximately $5,000. per application. American dentists have to protect their profit-margins!
      • Jack 9 mths ago
        well written !!
      • dd500 9 mths ago
        When you graduate with 300K of educational debt accruing interest at 6-8% per year, an additional 30-40% of salary going to govt, 4-8 less years of being in the work-force, no home, no kids, office expenses, malpractice insurance, disability insurance, and countless other sacrifices and fees then you can complain about the current costs of dental care. Until then, complain to congress and give dentists a break.
      • LW 9 mths ago
        Wait- what?

        First, I wasn't really sure that dentists charged so much for profit reasons. I thought it was the companies who supplied products that did. But, wow. They're just trying to cover personal/professional expenses. That's awesome.

        Second- I didn't know that having large student loan debt automatically meant a pay increase. If that's how things work I need to talk to my employer.
    • Jimbo  •  9 mths ago
      A miracle gel will cut into a Dentist's profits. After they fill your tooth, they count on the $1500 crown they're going to put on it later when it rots. Then, the $800 extraction. They don't want your teeth to improve. Most Dentists have the morals and ethics of used car salesmen. They will find a way to regulate this product, use it sparingly or "water it down" somehow. We live in a greedy world. I remember reading in a magazine in the 90s how they developed a tomato that ripens quicker and they news was that we'd get to enjoy fresher tomatoes. However, farmers just picked those more quickly developed tomatoes earlier. Now we deal with a tomato that's not as fresh as the old because we're eating a tomato designed to mature quicker, but it's picked riper.
      • Jimbo 9 mths ago
        picked unripened*
      • dd500 9 mths ago
        You are quite wrong. By the way, the average dentist graduates with over 150K in educational debt and remember that for every dollar you spend at the dentist's office 50 cents is knocked right off the top for overhead prices (dental materials, staff, office rent, etc). Then you can usually knock off another 10-20% if the procedure requires any type of lab fees (crowns, dentures, etc).

        I'm not saying dentists don't make a great living, but they are paid to do a very skilled and difficult job that many people would never have the stomach or manual dexterity for.

        Likewise, I'd say your teeth are fairly important and also, if you brushed and flossed you wouldn't be spending the big bucks on repairs...just simple preventative measures. If people went to the dentist regularly, dentists usually catch things early enough such that those high fees aren't necessary. You put oil in your car once every couple months, why not spend an extra 100-200 bucks every 6 months on your teeth for an exam and cleaning?
      • A Military Veteran 9 mths ago
        There was a cut rate dentist in Fairborn, OH, years ago that charged only 35.00 a filling. Mostly catered to the local welfare population. I got 4 of them. Those fillings lasted me almost 8 years. Eventually the VA took care of my dental.
    • MouseOnTheMayflower  •  9 mths ago
      Screw this high dollar mess. I have an appointment next week with Dr. Ruby. Shes the little girl that made the news a week or so ago with her video showing her pulling her little brothers front tooth with her minibike. Shes going to extract all of mine, good and the bad and shes going to make impressions with her Playdough. Shes making me a complete perfect top and bottom plate out of a vintage porcelain clawfoot bathtub. Im only going to be out the first season of Glee on dvd, a box of Strawberry Banana Fanna fruit roll ups and $10.00 in gas for her bike.
    • Tiffany Johnson  •  9 mths ago
      Fw: he needs help! Cia harkins my uncle has gun shotetc wounds in his foot,etc... From korea!! All his little brothers and sisters (parents) got angry at him for not be there to farm the farm ---return home and farm better on the farm!! I so can peace this sad tragic 80yr story together --my little sister was mad at me john harkins because i wasnt home to help her with our parents divorce,etc...i was in bosnia!!!
    • JevyJev  •  9 mths ago
      Good, dentists charge to much...
      • Jimbo 9 mths ago
        That's the problem. A miracle gel will cut into a Dentist's profits. After they fill your tooth, they count on the $1500 crown they're going to put on it later when it rots. Then, the $800 extraction. They don't want your teeth to improve. Most Dentists have the morals and ethics of used car salesmen. They will find a way to regulate this product, use it sparingly or "water it down" somehow.
      • dd500 9 mths ago
        How wrong you are Jimbo.
      • MouseOnTheMayflower 9 mths ago
        Bad ones do to Jevy, ... oh wait, I didnt see the comma behind the word good. My bad.

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