Dentistry Gets Another Bad Rap, Courtesy of Hollywood

Dentistry Gets Another Bad Rap, Courtesy of Hollywood

Written by Dentistry TodayWednesday, 14 August 2013 12:25

Woody Allen’s new film, Blue Jasmine, may be getting Oscar buzz, but it’s also getting criticism from New York dentists.
Lead actress Cate Blanchett’s character gets a rude awakening when taking a job and a dental office with a dentist who is, for lack of a better word, unprofessional.
Dr. Mark Wolff, of New York University, told the New York Daily News that onscreen, dentists “range from killers to buffoons to sexual harassers.”
This new character, played by Michael Stuhlbarg, joins the ranks of other detestable dentists, such as Sir Laurence Olivier in Marathon Man, Steve Martin in Little Shop of Horrors, and Jennifer Aniston in Horrible Bosses.

AGD Applauds Congress on Student Loan Bill

AGD Applauds Congress on Student Loan Bill

Written by Dentistry TodayWednesday, 14 August 2013 12:31

The AGD has commended Congress for passing the Bipartisan Student Loan Certainty Act of 2013.

The bill rolls back and restructures federal student loan interest rates. Dental student debt has been a top priority for the AGD since 2012.

AGD President Dr. Linda Edgar states that the debt of newly graduated dentists has nearly doubled in less than 10 years. She adds that new practitioners start out with more than $220,000 in debt, which makes them less inclined to provide dentistry to underserved populations.

AGD members have been partnering with American Student Dental Association (ASDA) members, conducting meetings with federal legislators regarding the personal, professional, and societal cost of educational loans.

Several AGD leaders and ASDA members met with policymakers and agency officials to discuss possible solutions to the student debt crisis.

Urine used to create teeth - stem cell success

Featured Article
Main Category: Dentistry
Also Included In: Stem Cell Research
Article Date: 30 Jul 2013 - 6:00 PDT

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Urine used to create teeth - stem cell success

Patient / Public:		2.84 (19 votes)
Healthcare Prof:		2.83 (6 votes)
Article opinions:	14 posts

Stem cell research is opening up the way for new teeth "grown" from an unlikely source - human urine.

Chinese researchers describe how stem cells derived from urine could be used to generate solid organs and tissues, including teeth. Their study is published this week in the open-access journal Cell Regeneration. The researchers hope the technique might one day help provide new, tailor-made teeth for dental patients.

Previous stem cell research has shown how cells can be generated from urine. It is also known that cells discarded with urea can become induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that can then generate many different cell types, including neurons and heart muscle cells.

Tissue culture breakthrough

Duanqing Pei and his colleagues from Guangzhou Institutes of Biomedicine and Health, and other Chinese universities have developed a novel chimeric tissue culture system that can coax these iPSCs into tiny structures that resemble teeth.

Their system mimics normal tooth development, which results from an interaction between two different cell types: epithelial cells, producing enamel, and mesenchymal cells, which generate the other three main tooth components of dentin, cementum and pulp.

Stem cells could one day be used to 'grow' new teeth


First, the team used chemicals to coax the cultured iPSCs into flat sheets of epithelial cells. They then mixed these cells with mouse embryonic mesenchymal cells, and transplanted them into mice.

Three weeks later, formations had grown that physically and structurally resembled human teeth. They are of roughly the same elasticity, and contain pulp, dentin and enamel-forming cells.

The hope for regenerative medicine

Though these structures are a new achievement, the method involves mouse cells, has a success rate of just 30% and the structures produced are only about one-third as hard as human teeth.


To resolve these issues, the team say human mesenchymal stem cells could be substituted for mouse ones and the tissue culture conditions tweaked. In theory, this revised method could create a bioengineered tooth bud, cultured in a jar and then transplanted into the jawbone of a human patient to form a fully functional tooth.


iPSCs remain a great source of hope for regenerative medicine. Not only do they avoid the controversial use of embryos, but they also come from a more readily accessible source than even cultured skin and blood. Furthermore, cells generated by this method cannot be rejected by the human immune system, being derived from the host's own cellular material.

Written by: Nick Valentine

Copyright: Medical News Today 
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today 

Poor dental health may lead to Alzheimer's, study suggests

Main Category: Dentistry
Also Included In: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 1:00 PDT

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Poor dental health may lead to Alzheimer's, study suggests

Patient / Public:		5 (1 votes)
Healthcare Prof:		2 (1 votes)

People with poor oral hygiene or gum disease may be at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, a new study led by The University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) School of Medicine and Dentistry suggests.

The research, which has received international collaboration, and led by Professor Stjohn Crean and Dr Sim Singhrao from UCLan, examined brain samples donated by ten patients withoutdementia and ten patients suffering from dementia. The research demonstrated the presence of products from Porphyromonas gingivalis in brains from patients suffering from dementia. This bacterium is commonly associated with chronic periodontal (gum) disease. These bacteria enter the bloodstream through daily activities such as eating, chewing, tooth brushing but especially following invasive dental treatment, and from there, potentially enter the brain on a regular basis. The researchers propose that every time they reach the brain, the bacteria may trigger immune system responses by already primed brains cells, causing them to release more chemicals that kill neurons. This could be one mechanism that leads to changes in the brain, which is typical of Alzheimer's disease, and could be responsible for causing symptoms such as confusion and deteriorating memory.

The research benefited from donated brain samples, provided by Brains for Dementia Research, a brain donation scheme supported by Alzheimer's Research UK and Alzheimer's Society. Finding P. gingivalis in the brains from dementia sufferers compared to those without dementia is significant as its presence in Alzheimer's diseased brains has not been documented previously and at the same time adds to a growing body of evidence that suggests an association between poor oral health and dementia.

These published research findings from human brain specimens are further supported by recent (as yet unpublished) research from the same group, on periodontal disease, using animal models, which has been carried out in collaboration with the University of Florida. This animal work has confirmed that P. gingivalis in the mouth finds its way to the brain once the periodontal disease becomes established.

Professor Stjohn Crean, Dean of School of Medicine & Dentistry said:

"Whereas previous studies have indicated a link between dementia and other bacteria and viruses such as the Herpes simplex virus type I, this new research indicates a possible association between gum disease and individuals who may be susceptible to developing Alzheimer's disease, if exposed to the appropriate trigger! Research currently underway at UCLan is playing an active role in exploring this link, but it remains to be proven whether poor dental hygiene can lead to dementia in healthy people, which obviously could have significant implications for the population as a whole. It is also likely that these bacteria could make the existing disease condition worse."

Dr. Sim K. Singhrao, Senior Research Fellow at UCLan said: "We are working on the theory that when the brain is repeatedly exposed to bacteria and/or their debris from our gums, subsequent immune responses may lead to nerve cell death and possibly memory loss. Thus, continued visits to dental hygiene professionals throughout one's life may be more important than currently envisaged with inferences for health outside of the mouth only. To help us prove our hypothesis we are hoping to use the Brains for Dementia Research tissue resource to examine brain tissue from people with both intact and compromised memory who have relevant dental records. The future of the research aims to discover if P. gingivalis can be used as a marker, via a simple blood test, to predict the development of Alzhiemer's disease in at risk patients".

Alzheimer's disease linked to poor dental health

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Main Category: Alzheimer's / Dementia
Also Included In: Dentistry
Article Date: 31 Jul 2013 - 5:00 PDT

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Alzheimer's disease linked to poor dental health

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A study has found that people with poor oral hygiene or gum disease could be at higher risk of developing Alzheimer's compared with those who have healthy teeth.

Researchers from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in the UK, discovered the presence of a bacterium calledPorphyromonas gingivalis in the brains of patients who had dementia when they were alive. The bug is usually associated with chronic periodontal (gum) disease.

For the study, published in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, 10 brain samples from patients with dementia were donated for analysis by a scheme called Brains for Dementia Research, alongside 10 brain samples from people who had not had the disease.

Examination of the samples revealed the presence of the Porphyromonas gingivalis in the samples of the brains affected by Alzheimer's.

Need for invasive dental treatment 'increases the bacterial risk'

This bacteria is usually found in oral cavities, and enters the blood stream through a variety of daily activities, such as chewing, eating and brushing teeth. However, it is more likely to enter the blood stream after invasive dental treatment, where it is possible that the bacteria can enter the brain regularly, the researchers say.

Each time the bacteria enter the brain, the researchers note, this could potentially trigger immune system responses, causing the release of excess chemicals that can kill neurons.

The researchers say that this activity could lead to symptoms such as confusion and deteriorating memory - typical symptoms of Alzheimer's disease.

Study adds to previous findings

The study adds to previous findings that Alzheimer's is linked to poor oral health. Research from New York University in 2010 revealed long-term evidence that linked gum inflammation and Alzheimer's disease, finding that gum disease could increase the risk of cognitive dysfunction.

Another study has suggested that other bacteria and viruses are linked to the disease. Research from the University of New Mexico suggested that Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was linked to Alzheimer's. See "Cold sores" connected to cognitive decline.

Professor St John Crean, from the School of Medical Dentistry at UCLAN, says of this most recent research:

"Whereas previous studies have indicated a link between dementia and other bacteria and viruses such as the Herpes simplex virus type 1, this new research indicates a possible association between gum disease and individuals who may be susceptible to developing Alzheimer's disease, if exposed to the appropriate trigger."

"Research currently under way at UCLan is playing an active role in exploring this link," Prof. St John Crean continues, "but it remains to be proven whether poor dental hygiene can lead to dementia in healthy people, which obviously could have significant implications for the population as a whole. It is also likely that these bacteria could make the existing disease condition worse."

The researchers hope that continued donation of brain tissue will enable examination of more samples from people with and without Alzheimer's disease who have relevant dental records.

They add that future research will involve determining whether the Porphyromonas gingivaliscould be used as a marker for a blood test that predicts the development of Alzheimer's disease in patients who are at higher risk.

Written by Honor Whiteman

Copyright: Medical News Today 
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today