Treatment for oral side effects of cancer

A mouth cancer expert has welcomed two new treatments for patients suffering with cancer. MuGard is a mouth rinse for prevention and management of the lesions and symptoms of oral mucositis.
Head and neck cancer patients often suffer severe mucosal ulcerations and soreness as side-effects of these treatments and will benefit from using it.The other product is Xerotin, a ready-to-use moisturising mouth spray for the relief of the dry mouth (Xerostomia), a common side-effect of radiation damage to the salivary glands.
Oral complications are common in patients receiving radiation and or chemotherapy treatment especially in the head and neck area.
The Mouth Cancer Foundation's Dr Vinod Joshi welcomed the new mouth rinse and spray. He said: ‘These new options could provide much-needed respite for patients. They will be grateful if MuGard is effective in delaying the onset of oral mucositis and reducing its severity. He added: ‘Following radiotherapy and or chemotherapy, many patients also suffer from a dry mouth. Xerotin's ability to lubricate and moisturise the mouth will offer a new option for patients. Xerotin has a neutral pH and will not be damaging to teeth.'

Getting Wiser About Wisdom Teeth

Rites of passage for American teenagers include obtaining a driver's license, high school graduation, voting for the first time, and for many, prophylactic (preventive) extraction of their (third molar) extraction.

Generally, dentists believe that the removal of third molars before the age of 22 prevents later disease and difficulty. Some dentists who specialize in public health opine that because only about one of eight third molars ever cause significant health problems, it does not make sense to remove them all. Information continues to evolve and will effect the future of dental treatment recommendations and patients' comfort with their own decisions

The web site of the American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, www.aaoms.org, carries a report titled "White Paper on Third Molar Data." This thorough paper enumerates the reasons for prophylactic extraction of third molars. The authors refer to recent studies demonstrating that periodontal disease around third molars is a cause for more serious ailments including coronary artery disease, stroke, kidney disease, diabetes, and obstetric complications. Additionally, the AAOMS asserts that retained wisdom teeth of pregnant women are likely to cause low birth weight of their offspring.

The links between periodontal disease and systemic illness and low birth weight are driving dental insurance companies to cover more frequent dental care for some individuals. Medical associations and medical insurance companies advise physicians to refer their patients for dental treatment. Linking periodontal disease to third molars would have the effect of increasing demand for third molar extraction.

Implant or Root Canal ????

There are some who argue that implants are more successful than endodontically treated teeth. This is despite the evidence that shows that implants and endodontically treated teeth have similar, almost identical success rates.

Richard Mounce DDS, an endodontist, points out that the only controversy between endodontics and implants is "primarily economic and more artificially manufactured than exists in reality...There are clear indications for endodontic therapy and clear indications for implant therapy. Rarely are these treatment options so evenly weighted that when considered side by side (as to their advantages and disadvantages) that there should be a 'competition' or 'controversy', most especially when the patient's interest is put first".

According to Gregori M. Kurtzman DDS, "as a general rule, it is better to save a tooth...if you can". Restorability is the key factor in determining when a tooth needs to be removed. Ability to get a good margin, not violate biological width, cracks, strength of furcation, crown:root ratio etc. are all important factors in determining the restorability of the tooth. An endodontically treated tooth with a poor restoration, will generally not have long term success.

However in the same article, Dr. Kurtzman goes on to questions the success rates of endodontic surgery, and even the value of endodontic retreatment. Dr. Kurtzman points out that the financial investment into retreatment, like all treatment options which does not have 100% success rate, may be better made in a more predictable treatment of an implant.
That argument shows lack of understanding and appreciation for modern microscopic endodontic therapy.

Drink Green Tea For Healthy Teeth And Gums

With origins dating back over 4,000 years, green tea has long been a popular beverage in Asian culture, and is increasingly gaining popularity in the United States. And while ancient Chinese and Japanese medicine believed green tea consumption could cure disease and heal wounds, recent scientific studies are beginning to establish the potential health benefits of drinking green tea, especially in weight loss, heart health, and cancer prevention.

A study recently published in the Journal of Periodontology, uncovered yet another benefit of green tea consumption. Researchers found that routine intake of green tea may also help promote healthy teeth and gums. The study analyzed the periodontal health of 940 men, and found that those who regularly drank green tea had superior periodontal health than subjects that consumed less green tea.

"It has been long speculated that green tea possesses a host of health benefits," said study author Dr. Yoshihiro Shimazaki of Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan. "And since many of us enjoy green tea on a regular basis, my colleagues and I were eager to investigate the impact of green tea consumption on periodontal health, especially considering the escalating emphasis on the connection between periodontal health and overall health."

Male participants aged 49 through 59 were examined on three indicators of periodontal disease: periodontal pocket depth (PD), clinical attachment loss (CAL) of gum tissue, and bleeding on probing (BOP) of the gum tissue. Researchers observed that for every one cup of green tea consumed per day, there was a decrease in all three indicators, therefore signifying a lower instance of periodontal disease in those subjects who regularly drank green tea.

Green tea's ability to help reduce symptoms of periodontal disease may be due to the presence of the antioxidant catechin. Previous research has demonstrated antioxidants' ability to reduce inflammation in the body, and the indicators of periodontal disease measured in this study, PD, CAL and BOP, suggest the existence of an inflammatory response to periodontal bacteria in the mouth. By interfering with the body's inflammatory response to periodontal bacteria, green tea may actually help promote periodontal health, and ward off further disease. Periodontal disease is a chronic inflammatory disease that affects the gums and bone supporting the teeth, and has been associated with the progression of other diseases such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

"Periodontists believe that maintaining healthy gums is absolutely critical to maintaining a healthy body," says Dr. David Cochran, DDS, PhD, President of the AAP and Chair of the Department of Periodontics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. "That is why it is so important to find simple ways to boost periodontal health, such as regularly drinking green tea – something already known to possess certain health-related benefits."

UV Light-enhanced Tooth Bleaching Dangerous To Eyes And Skin

The light treatment gives absolutely no benefit over bleaching without UV, and damages skin and eyes up to four times as much as sunbathing, reports a study in Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences.

The treatment is at least as damaging to skin and eyes as sunbathing in Hyde Park for a midsummer’s afternoon – one lamp actually gave four times that level of radiation exposure.

And as with sunbathing, fair-skinned or light-sensitive people are at even greater risk, said lead author Ellen Bruzell of the Nordic Institute of Dental Materials.

Bruzell also found that bleaching damaged teeth. She saw more exposed grooves on the enamel surface of bleached teeth than on unbleached teeth. These grooves make the teeth more vulnerable to mechanical stress.

Tooth bleaching is one of the most popular cosmetic dental treatments available. It uses a bleaching agent – usually hydrogen peroxide – to remove stains such as those from red wine, tea and coffee, and smoking.

UV light is claimed to further activate the oxidation process, improving bleaching efficiency. The authors of this Photochemical & Photobiological Sciences article say there is very little substantive evidence to support this claim, and their new study finds no benefit to using UV light.

New Tooth Cavity Protection: Nanoparticles Make Surface Too Slippery For Bacteria To Adhere

Clarkson University Center for Advanced Materials Processing Professor Igor Sokolov and graduate student Ravi M. Gaikwad have discovered a new method of protecting teeth from cavities by ultrafine polishing with silica nanoparticles.

The researchers adopted polishing technology used in the semiconductor industry (chemical mechanical planarization) to polish the surface of human teeth down to nanoscale roughness. Roughness left on the tooth after the polishing is just a few nanometers, which is one-billionth of a meter or about 100,000 times smaller than a grain of sand.

Sokolov and Gaikwad showed that teeth polished in this way become too “slippery” for the "bad" bacteria that is responsible for the destruction of dental enamel. As a result the bacteria can be removed fairly easily before they cause damage to the enamel.

Although silica particles have been used before for tooth polishing, polishing with nanosized particles has not been reported. The researchers hypothesized that such polishing may protect tooth surfaces against the damage caused by cariogenic bacteria, because the bacteria can be removed easily from such polished surfaces.

Eye and Teeth Development Linked to Same Protein

Scientists from the University of Leeds have found a link between eye and teeth formation in the protein CNNM4.
The findings will be reported in American Journal of Human Genetics.

In the Gaza Strip, scientists studied residents who suffer from a genetic condition that causes blindness early in life, as well as significant tooth decay. The condition has been named Jalili syndrome after one of the research team members, Ismail Jalili. A protein known as CNNM4 can be found in the cells responsible for laying down tooth enamel and retinal layers. It may also carry calcium and magnesium to other cells. A mutation in CNNM4 is responsible for Jalili syndrome, which can be transferred genetically to children.

Now that scientists know that the protein is responsible for tooth and eye development, they hope to research gene therapy to battle the condition. Finding this link may also lead to progress in understanding inherited blindness.