The Science of Dentistry

Simroid Head/Mouth

A trip to the dentist could be a lot less painful in future thanks to a newly developed dental training robot.  The humanoid practice robot, dubbed Simroid for “simulator humanoid”, alerts dental students if a given procedure is uncomfortable.

Tooth Regeneration Gel

Dentists could soon hang up their drills. A new peptide, embedded in a soft gel or a thin, flexible film and placed next to a cavity, encourages cells inside teeth to regenerate in about a month, according to a new study in the journal ACS Nano. This technology is the first of its kind.

Tooth Stem Cells

A new approach to anchor teeth back in the jaw using stem cells has been developed and successfully tested in the laboratory for the first time by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Thinner Scint-X Sensor

New space technology is about to make your visit to the dentist a little more comfortable. The same production technology that made the world’s tiniest rocket motor will be used to shrink those unwieldy plastic squares the dentist sticks in your mouth during an X-ray.

Space Shuttle and Aircraft

Its been a mystery how human teeth remain intact and functional even after years of biting and chewing. Now, a new study has shown that it is the highly sophisticated structure of tooth enamel that keeps it in one piece — and that structure holds promising clues for aerospace engineers as they build the aircraft and space vehicles of the future.

Tooth enamel is hardest material in the human body because it’s made almost entirely of minerals. As tough as it may be, however, enamel can be broken down by bacteria, forming cavities and eventually destroying the tooth. That’s why dentists repair cavities by filling them with a material to replace the lost enamel. The most common such restorative is a material invented in the 19th-century known as amalgam — the classic silver-black fillings many people have.

Plasma Jet

Plasma jets capable of obliterating tooth decay-causing bacteria could be an effective and less painful alternative to the dentist’s drill, according to a new study published in the February issue of the Journal of Medical Microbiology.

Carbamide Peroxide Gel

A tooth bleaching agent may improve the oral health of elderly and special needs patients, say dentists at the Medical College of Georgia and Western University of Health Sciences.  Standard oral hygiene, such as brushing and flossing, can be difficult or impossible for patients with mental challenges or impaired manual dexterity.

Cleft Palate in a child

In a study newly published in the Journal of Development, investigators at the USC School of Dentistry describe how to non-surgically reverse the onset of cleft palate in fetal mice — potentially one step in the journey to a better understanding of similar defects in humans.

Nasal Spray

Modern dentistry has eliminated much of the “ouch!” from getting a shot of dental local anesthetic. Now a new discovery may replace the dental needle used to give local anesthetic in the dentist’s chair for many procedures.

Forensic Dentistry

Dentistry fulfills one of its most important social, moral, and professional obligations by applying its unique knowledge and expertise to the task of identifying countless persons who are tragic victims of fires, catastrophes, disasters, and homicides. Identification must proceed along the lines of gathering as much reliable evidence as possible and utilizing this evidence in an attempt to establish a positive identification.

Stem Cell Research

When you think about your teeth, you are probably associating them with anything from beauty to functioning as you chew food, speak and possibly plan your next dental visit. But your teeth have capabilities that might surprise you – they could be a future source of stem cells.

People who have lost some or all of their adult teeth typically look to dentures, or more recently, dental implants have been used to bridge the gap between a toothless appearance.  But this appearance can have a host of unsettling psycho-social ramifications and a tooth-filled grin that is not without pain and discomfort.