A new molecule has been created by researchers in Chile that could make teeth ‘cavity proof’, killing the bacteria known to cause caries in less than 60 seconds.

Named ‘Keep 32′ after the number of teeth in the mouth, researchers Jose Cordova and Erich Astudillo hope the product could be used in toothpastes, mouthwashes, floss and even food. Chemical trials have shown that the cavity-causing bacteria Streptococcus mutans can be eliminated for hours with the molecule. […]

Procter & Gamble and five other chemical giants are fighting for the patent.

{ British Dental Journal | Continue reading }

It should be so easy: Buy toothpaste. But few shopping trips are more bewildering.

An explosion of specialized pastes and gels brag about their powers to whiten teeth, reduce plaque, curb sensitivity and fight gingivitis, sometimes all at the same time. Add in all the flavors and sizes, plus ever-rising prices, and the simple errand turns into sensory overload.

Manufacturers acknowledge the problem and are putting the brakes on new-product introductions. Last year, 69 new toothpastes hit store shelves, down from 102 in 2007. (…)

Stores are trying to simplify, too. Last month, 352 distinct types or sizes of toothpaste were sold at retail, down from 412 in March 2008. (…)

With some 93% of U.S. adults using toothpaste, according to Mintel, there’s little room to recruit new users.

Even through the recession, when unit sales of toothpaste actually dipped, prices kept rising. The average price of toothpaste last year reached $2.83, up 8% over the past four years.

{ WSJ | Continue reading }

In a rented room between a Southwest Side auto body yard and a scrap metal facility, Francisco Rendon allegedly performed dental work on willing patients, despite not having a dentist’s license, authorities said. (…)

Rendon, 49, clandestinely ran a dentist’s office equipped with syringes, painkillers and dentures. (…)

Instead of sitting in a traditional reclining dentist’s chair, patients sat in a leather office seat, according to police reports. The reports said that Rendon, 49, worked on teeth using something similar to a power tool usually used for polishing metal and that patients spit into a garbage can instead of a sink. Rendon told police he had a dental license he said he had earned in Mexico.

That seemed to be enough for his clientele, police said. Officers arriving to investigate an anonymous tip found five persons waiting to be treated.

{ Chicago breaking News | Continue reading }

related { Venezuelan police have arrested a man and woman accused of impersonating plastic surgeons and providing women with silicone breast and buttock implants from an illegal clinic in an apartment. }

What do Mao Zedong and Howard Hughes have in common? In maturity, especially later in life, neither one brushed his teeth. Ever.

Hughes—inventor of one of the largest planes in history, owner of Trans-World Airlines, blockbusting director, millionaire (for a while the world’s wealthiest man), and aviation pioneer (a transcontinental airspeed record-holder)—was also a lifelong obsessive-compulsive germaphobe. (…) His aversion to the toothbrush stemmed from its ability to carry invisible contaminants.

The mastermind of China’s Communist revolution and the author of the “Little Red Book,” on the other hand, simply preferred not to brush. Instead, Chairman Mao rubbed his teeth with green tea leaves, giving them a well-documented jade tinge. “A tiger,” he reasoned, “never brushes his teeth.”

The two men may have exposed themselves to health and hygiene problems, but they also—no doubt unintentionally—avoided injury. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 2,953 Americans were treated in 2007 for toothbrush-related injuries. The odds a person will visit an emergency department due to an accident involving a toothbrush in a year are 1 in 99,340, making a toothbrush slightly more dangerous on average than a garage door.

{ Book of Odds | Continue reading }

related { Wall Street Journal on the Book of Odds }