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In testimony before the Congressional Committee on Appropriations this week, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy, Jr. wrangled with Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Id) over whether governments should be adding fluoride to drinking water. Simpson questioned whether Kennedy's opposition to fluoridating was wise, saying "as a dentist I am acutely aware of statistics showing that where water is fluoridated cavities are rarer. I fear that removing it will lead to an epidemic of rotting teeth among our population. Are you indifferent to this risk?" Kennedy responded saying "the National Toxicity Program issued a report in August 2024, a...

LUBBOCK, Texas — A Houston dentist has said that an increase in cavities in her patients could be linked to dry mouth caused by wearing face masks. According to board-certified dentist Dr. Piya Gandhi, breathing through your mouth reduces saliva, which helps protect your teeth from cavities and decay. Mouth breathing already increases your risk of cavities, and breathing heavily through your mouth from under the mask could increase that risk even more. The face mask itself doesn’t lead to cavities — it’s the way that people breathe while wearing them. “Now that a lot of us are mouth breathing...

Researchers recently discovered certain drugs, including one developed to treat Alzheimer’s, stimulate innate self-repair mechanismsFor dentists, a cavity is a conundrum—in order to save the tooth they must further damage it. Currently, the primary way to treat a cavity is to excavate the decay and the surrounding area before filling the resulting crater with a durable surrogate material such as metal, plastic or glass cement. But what if instead of drilling holes into teeth and patching them up with synthetic fillers, dentists could coax our pearly whites to regrow themselves? Recently, Paul Sharpe, a bioengineer at King’s College London, and...

The agony of root canal surgery and the need for tooth fillings could soon be ended after scientists discovered a way to make a rotting tooth repair itself using a laser beam. Just five minutes under a laser was enough to kickstart the healing process inside the mouth, the researchers found. The new technique—although only tested on rats so far—could prevent the need for fillings for some types of decay, and may eventually replace painful and expensive root canal treatment. Researchers, which included experts from the US government’s dental research team, found a blast of intense light from a laser...

AFP - Scientists in Japan have created a microscopically thin film that can coat individual teeth to prevent decay or to make them appear whiter, the chief researcher said. The "tooth patch" is a hard-wearing and ultra-flexible material made from hydroxyapatite, the main mineral in tooth enamel, that could also mean an end to sensitive teeth. "This is the world's first flexible apatite sheet, which we hope to use to protect teeth or repair damaged enamel," said Shigeki Hontsu, professor at Kinki University's Faculty of Biology-Oriented Science and Technology in western Japan. "Dentists used to think an all-apatite sheet was...

A new chemical could make human teeth 'cavity proof' - and do away with the need for visits to the dentists forever. The molecule has been called 'Keep 32' - after the 32 teeth in a human mouth. The chemical was designed by dentists in Chile, and wipes out all the bacteria that cause cavities in just 60 seconds in tests. The chemical could be added to any current dental care product, turning toothpaste, mouthwash and chewing gum into 'super cleansers' that could get rid of the underlying cause of tooth decay. The chemical targets 'streptococcus mutans', the bacteria that...

Could this new gel be the biggest dental breakthrough since the introduction of fluoride? THE GIST A new gel could soon eliminate painful fillings and root canals. The technology doesn't prevent cavities; it heals teeth by regenerating them. Although this is good news for teeth, the research could also be applied to heal bones and other tissues in the body. 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...

Teeth are able to heal themselves. That's how traditional cultures such as the Inuit can wear their teeth down to the pulp due to chewing leather and sand-covered dried fish, yet still have an exceptionally low rate of tooth decay. It's also how the African Wakamba tribe can file their front teeth into sharp points without causing decay. Both cultures lost their resistance to tooth decay after adopting nutrient-poor Western foods such as white flour and sugar. ... When enamel is poorly formed and the diet isn't adequate, enamel dissolves and decay sets in. Tooth decay is an opportunistic infection...

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...

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...

Dentists Are Fluoride Misinformed New York – February 1 -- Bottled water does NOT contribute to tooth decay despite dentists scientifically unverifiable cautions disseminated through the media. Studies actually show the opposite. America’s children are fluoride-overdosed, it’s ruining their teeth and researchers advise cutting back. The Centers for Disease Control reports from 1/3 to 1/2 of U.S. schoolchildren sport dental fluorosis1 – white-spotted, discolored and/or sometimes pitted teeth, caused by fluoride over-ingestion. The Academy of General Dentistry advises against fluoridated water for infant formula or food preparation because many studies show this ups children’s fluorosis risk.2 The U.S. Surgeon General...

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.

Nothing to smile about Posted: February 17, 2004 1:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 David H. Hackworth "For the want of a nail, the shoe was lost; For the want of the shoe, the horse was lost; For the want of a horse, the rider was lost; For the want of the rider, the battle was lost; For the want of the battle, the kingdom was lost; And all for the want of a nail." Swap "nail" for "tooth" in Ben Franklin's epigram and you've captured part of the plight of today's U.S. Army. For the past three years, about one...

The old lignite skull ANOTHER MYSTERY SKULL... THIS TIME AN ANCIENT EUROPEAN WHICH, SAY FRANCOIS DE SARRE AND MICHEL GRANGER, COULD CHALLENGE THE OFFICIAL VIEW OF HUMAN ORIGINS. 0fficially, the origin of the first true Humans (Homo sapiens sapiens) dates back 2.5 million years. Before this time lived other hominids whose bones cannot be confused with those of Homo's lineage. Against this background, we have the 2oo-year old enigma of an 'impossibly' ancient humanoid skull from the mining town of Freiberg, in Saxony, Germany, which, if verified, could be more than 10 million years old - far older than...

July 1, 2002The "Fuzzy Math" of Fluoride Promotion By Paul Connett, PhD (ggvideo@northnet.org) Many of you may have probably heard the term "fuzzy math" before. It is a term used to describe a somewhat controversial method of teaching math where the answers do not have to be EXACTLY right. But at the very least, they are supposed to be close. Unfortunately, many of those promoting the practice of water fluoridation would fail to meet even these basic "fuzzy math" guidelines, with methods better described as "hairy" than "fuzzy". And "fuzzy math" is supposed to be a temporary teaching tool...