Dentistry News and Research

Latest Dentistry News and Research

Stimulus money working for homeless teenagers' health in Colorado

Some homeless teenagers in Colorado are getting dental work done for free as part of the economic stimulus that has expanded service to more poor and uninsured, The Associated Press reports.

30 Jun 2009

Chewing robot helps study dental wear formation on teeth

The UK spends around £2.5 billion each year on dental materials to replace or strengthen teeth. The Chewing Robot is a new biologically inspired way to test dental materials and it will be shown to the public for the first time at this year's Royal Society Summer Science Exhibition [30 June to 4 July].

29 Jun 2009

California Rulings: State can cut Medi-Cal benefits but not home care wages

"A federal judge on Thursday blocked a $2 hourly wage cut for California in-home care workers that was slated to begin July 1, potentially increasing California's budget deficit by another $98 million," The Sacramento Bee reports.

29 Jun 2009

Dental health advocates want to sink teeth into health care reform

The Washington Post reports many oral health professionals worry that dental issues have "a tenuous place at best in the national debate" regarding an overhaul of the health care system. Still, they emphasize that dental health is an integral part of health care and note the special burden untreated dental issues have on poor children.

23 Jun 2009

New antioxidant supplement may help slow sight loss in elderly

Queen's University Belfast academics have helped develop an antioxidant supplement which may slow down sight loss in elderly people.

18 Jun 2009

1 million California residents travel to Mexico annually for health care, study finds

About one million adults living in California, including 500,000 immigrants, travel to Mexico for health care each year, according to a study published Tuesday in the journal Medical Care, the San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

27 May 2009

Research assesses the benefits of different ways of treating tooth decay in children

New research commissioned by the National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment (NIHR HTA) programme will assess the benefits of different methods of managing tooth decay in children's teeth. Dental decay is one of the most common childhood diseases, with over 40 per cent of children in the UK already experiencing obvious decay in their primary (baby) teeth by five years of age, and this statistic has remained largely unchanged for the past 20 years.

27 May 2009

New understanding on how superbugs manipulate the immune system

It appears that some superbugs have evolved to develop the ability to manipulate the immune system to everyone's advantage.

24 May 2009

Discovery of new target in fight against osteoporosis, periodontitis

Osteoporosis and periodontitis are common diseases whose sufferers must cope with weakness, injury and reduced function as they lose bone more quickly than it is formed. While the mechanism of bone destruction in these diseases is understood, scientists have had less information about how bone formation is impaired.

19 May 2009

Few dentists in Wisconsin accept patients enrolled in BadgerCare Plus

Few dentists in Wisconsin are accepting patients insured by BadgerCare Plus, and children in particular are affected, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports.

12 May 2009

Discovery of pathway that reactivate myelin repair

UMDNJ researchers have identified a key pathway that could lead to new therapies to repair nerve cells' protective coating stripped away as a result of autoimmune diseases such as Multiple Sclerosis (MS). An article reporting their findings will appear in the May 13 online edition of the Journal of Neuroscience.

12 May 2009

Closer to an effective treatment for gum disease in smokers

Scientists in the USA have discovered why smokers may be more prone to chronic gum disease (periodontitis). One of the bacteria responsible for this infection responds to cigarette smoke - changing its properties and the way it infects a smokers mouth.

11 May 2009

Discovery of major new treatment target in diseased arteries

Removing a single protein prevents early damage in blood vessels from triggering a later-stage, frequently lethal complication of atherosclerosis, according to research published online today in the journal Nature Medicine. By eliminating the gene for a signaling protein called cyclophilin A (CypA) from a strain of mice, researchers were able to provide complete protection against abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA).

11 May 2009

X-rays help predict permanent bone damage from bisphosphonates

Breast cancer patients, individuals at risk for osteoporosis and those undergoing certain types of bone cancer therapies often take drugs containing bisphosphonates. These drugs have been found to place people at risk for developing osteonecrosis of the jaws (a rotting of the jaw bones).

7 May 2009

Children's activity levels not influenced by more PE time in school

Scheduling more physical education time in schools does not mean children will increase their activity levels, suggests new research that discovered those who got lots of timetabled exercise at school compensated by doing less at home while those who got little at school made up for it by being more active at home.

7 May 2009