According to a Brazilian study with included 160 Children ages 3 – 15, children with asthma had higher levels of S. mutans. Those with a longer history of asthma tended to have higher levels of these bacteria. The study did not find that levels of S. mutans were linked with asthma drugs or other treatments. Researchers also did not find a link between higher levels of S. mutans and more tooth decay.

A new toothpaste ingredient which puts back the lost minerals from tooth enamel and helps prevent decay and treat sensitivity while you sleep is available online and from specialist dental distributors now. It is expected to be available through high street stores by the end of the year.

Indemnity Dental Insurance Benefits

Indemnity dental insurance plans usually employ an “open panel” of dentists.  Indemnity Dental Insurance Plans. This type of dental plan pays the dental office (dentist) on a traditional fee-for-service basis.  Like a PPO dental plan, indemnity dental insurance plans give you the freedom to go to the dentist of your choice.

A recent study suggest that no enough dentist are using dental sealants to help protect back teeth.  Temple University’s dental school researchers who did the study, surveyed 595 general dentists and 176 pediatric dentists. The dentist were asked about whether they would use sealants on teeth with different signs of early decay. They also were asked how they felt about using sealants in different groups of people.

In 2008 the ADA endorsed the use of sealants n teeth with the earliest stages of decay. In these stages, a molar or premolar is discolored on its chewing surface, but there is no cavity in the tooth yet. Research has shown that sealing teeth like this can prevent cavities. However the new survey found that many dentist do not either know about the ADA panel’s advise or the dentist that do know do not agree with it.  It also show that Pediatric dentist were more likely to follow the recommendations then general dentist. This study appears in the September issue of the Journal of the American Dental Association.

The Local Government Association has today published a report that states that around 100 children and teenagers a day are being admitted to hospital for surgery to remove rotten teeth.

The report says that £35 million was spent in 2014-15 on removing children’s rotten teeth, a 66 per cent increase since 2010-11. In all, 40,970 surgical procedures were carried out on children for their teeth in 2014-15, as opposed to 32,457 in 2010-11.

They are NOT Dental Discount Plans

Also included with discount dental plans, these are not dental insurance, but can provide you with the freedom to visit any dentists at considerable discounts over their standard charge, though they are seemingly rare, but the indemnity dental insurance plans are also available to provide freedom to choose the dentist from your choice on a higher out of pocket expenditure.  The lack of benefits has rendered traditional indemnity dental insurance little more than two inexpensive continuing care visits, consisting of an examination, prophylaxis (cleaning) and radiographs (X-rays) per year and help with minor restorative treatment, such as a few direct restorations (fillings).

Two more small studies have strengthens the evidence that links periodontal disease with other health conditions. One Study focused on atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries).  The researchers took samples of diseased arteries from 53 people. They also took samples of healthy arteries from 21 other people. They tested the arteries for bacteria that cause periodontal disease. The study found that 53% of the diseased arteries had periodontal bacteria in them and only 24% of the healthy ones did. The other study focused on people with type 2 diabetes which included 60 people.

Twenty had periodontal disease and diabetes. Another 20 had periodontal disease, but not diabetes. The last 20 had diabetes, but not periodontal disease. People with diabetes and periodontal disease had higher blood sugar levels and poorer blood-sugar control than people who had diabetes only. The  people with both conditions also had more of a protein called C-reactive protein. Higher levels reflect more inflammation in the body. This group also had the lowest levels of HDL. The study is in the October issue of the Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

The presence of certain bacteria in the mouth may indicate a raised risk for pancreatic cancer – a disease that often begins with no symptoms and for which there is no routine screening test

This was the main conclusion of a study led by NYU Langone in New York, NY, presented at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in New Orleans, LA, April 16-20, 2016.

100% Preventive Care Options

There are several features of indemnity dental insurance plans for individuals that make these plans different from many other types of dental coverage: Insurance providers will pay up to 100% of preventative dental care.

Although they are becoming increasingly rare, indemnity dental insurance plans are also still available and provide the freedom to choose the dentist of your choice at a higher out-of-pocket expense.  In indemnity dental insurance plans, the insured has to pay all the costs for services directly and then submit a claim for reimbursement once a deductible has been met.

According to Japanese researchers, older adults with more gum inflammation are at risk for kidney problems. The study was done on 317 people who where all 75 years old.  At the start of the study each person had an oral exam. The researchers calculated how much of each person’s gum tissue was inflamed.

The people were followed for 2 years. During that time, 45 of them developed kidney problems. Those with the most inflammation were more than twice as likely to develop kidney problems as the rest of the people in the study. Other studies have suggested a link between periodontal disease and kidney disease. A 2010 study focused on people with both conditions. It found that by having periodontal treatment also improved kidney disease symptoms  This study appears in the October 14th issue of the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.

The findings, by a team of researchers from the University of Oslo, the Forsyth Institute, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, appeared last week in the American Society for Microbiology’s new open-access journal, mSystems.

The researchers wanted to know precisely which metabolic pathways in the bacterial cell must be activated for the bacteria to become “competent,” or able to acquire genes from DNA in the environment. They focused on Streptococcus mutans, a strain involved in tooth decay.

Traditional Fee-for-Service Plan

Indemnity dental insurance is another plan where the plan pays the dentist on a traditional fee-for-service basis.  Indemnity dental insurance is an insurance package where the policyholder can choose his or her own dentist and the insurance provider will be the one to pay that designated dentist your fees or, usually, around half of them.  This indemnity dental insurance plan allows you to select any licensed dentist for service.  An indemnity dental insurance plan is often called a traditional dental coverage plan or a fee for service plan.  You will need to pay a deductible on your indemnity dental insurance.

Long term study done suggest that Dry mouth is common in those over the age of fifty particularly in older women. In the Swedish study, started in 1992 researchers sent questionnaires to every 50-year-old in 2 Swedish counties. Fifteen years later, they sent the same questions to every 65-year-old in those counties.

They also sent them to a sample of 75-year-olds. The study showed that in every age group, dry mouth was more common in women than in men. The authors speculate that the higher prevalence of dry mouth in women may be the result of decreased saliva production in the mouth following menopause. Dry mouth occurred more often as people got older, and more at night than during the day.

Periodontitis comprises a group of multifactorial diseases in which periodontopathogens accumulate in dental plaque and trigger host chronic inflammatory and immune responses against periodontal structures, which are determinant to the disease outcome. Although unusual cases of non-inflammatory destructive periodontal disease (NIDPD) are described, their pathogenesis remains unknown. A unique NIDPD case was investigated by clinical, microbiological, immunological and genetic tools. The patient, a non-smoking dental surgeon with excessive oral hygiene practice, presented a generalized bone resorption and tooth mobility, but not gingival inflammation or occlusion problems. No hematological, immunological or endocrine alterations were found. No periodontopathogens (A. actinomycetemcomitans, P. gingivalis, F. nucleatum and T. denticola) or viruses (HCMV, EBV-1 and HSV-1) were detected, along with levels of IL-1β and TNF-a in GCF compatible with healthy tissues. Conversely ALP, ACP and RANKL GCF levels were similar to diseased periodontal sites. Genetic investigation demonstrated that the patient carried some SNPs, as well HLA-DR4 (*0404) and HLA-B27 alleles, considered risk factors for bone loss. Then, a less vigorous and diminished frequency of toothbrushing was recommended to the patient, resulting in the arrest of alveolar bone loss, associated with the return of ALP, ACP and RANKL in GCF to normality levels. In conclusion, the unusual case presented here is compatible with the previous description of NIDPD, and the results that a possible combination of excessive force and frequency of mechanical stimulation with a potentially bone loss prone genotype could result in the alveolar bone loss seen in NIDPD.

 The Bottom Line

Dentists typically base their root canal fees on the number of individual root canals found in the tooth.  Those teeth that lie between the incisors and molars vary by the fact that they typically have either one or two root canals. The cost of root canal varies depending on some factors: The area in US the dentist located.  The fee your dentist charges for the root canal treatment will probably be less than if you required the services of an endodontist.  The average cost is $300 to $1000 for a root canal depending on the area in the U.S. the dentist is located.

While dental drills, or burs, are used extensively in dentistry to mechanically prepare tooth structures for fillings, little is known about the bur debris left behind in the teeth and whether it poses potential health risks to patients.

Imaging analyses have revealed dental bur fragments of different sizes in different locations on the floor of the prepared surface of the teeth and under the filling, which places them in direct contact with the tubules and fluid within dentin. The fragments are made of tungsten carbide-cobalt, which is bio-incompatible.

“Further studies need to investigate if or to what extent the small amount of bio-incompatible debris constitutes a biohazard to patients,” said Dr. Assem Hedayat, lead author of the Journal of Synchrotron Radiation article.

A Safe Way To Save The Tooth

A root canal is a treatment used to repair and save a tooth that is badly decayed or becomes infected. Root canal treatment, also known as endodontic therapy, is probably the most maligned of all dental procedures, but the reputation of pain typically associated with “having a root canal” is really not deserved.  Today, root canal treatment has given dentists a safe way of saving teeth.

Left without treatment, pus builds up at the root tip, in the jawbone, forming a “pus-pocket” called an abscess.  Without treatment, your tooth may have to be removed.  During treatment, your general dentist or endodontist (a dentist who specializes in problems of the pulp) removes the diseased pulp.  If an endodontist performs the treatment, he or she will recommend that you return to your family dentist for this final step.  The treatment can readily be done using modern local anesthetic techniques with little or no discomfort.

Sugar Substitute that helps to prevent cavities may also help prevent ear infections. According to the scientists from the University of Toronto who reviewed published research.  The scientists reviewed the last 61 years of studies on xylitol and ear infections. They found four studies that included a total of about 3,000 children up to the age of 12. Three of the studies included healthy children. Those who consumed xylitol gum, candies or syrup had 25% fewer ear infections.

The number of 5 year olds with tooth decay has dropped to its lowest level in almost a decade, according to a PHE oral health survey.  The oral health survey published today (Tuesday 10 May 2016) by Public Health England (PHE) reveals that less than 25% of the cohort suffers from tooth decay, a 20% drop since 2008.

This continues the downward trend seen since 2008, in the first oral health survey of 5 year olds asking parents to opt-in. In 2008, 31% of 5 year olds suffered tooth decay; in 2012 it was 27%. The pattern of dental health improvement among the age group shows the impact parents and carers can have in establishing good dental care habits from an early age.