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Wait, ok. Humans can fix their teeth by not eating too much sugars and acids, cleaning their teeth and swishing spit around? If you're for real, please donate

Wait, ok. Humans can fix their teeth by not eating too much sugars and acids, cleaning their teeth and swishing spit around? If you're for real, please donate yourself to science :|

RobertRoberts 9y ago
lol, I actually chuckled. I think everyone has the ability. What parts on our body can't self repair? I think it's very few things. Also, I met a guy years ago that could regrow full teeth if they got knocked out. The world is a weird place.
- sli 9y ago
  I could maybe buy a tooth slowly repairing, especially with fluoride or something, but regrowing whole teeth? I don't buy that for a second.
  - RobertRoberts 9y ago
    Well, he could have been wrong or lying, but showed where little baby teeth were growing in... so who knows. :P He said some people can do it. Or had a few extra teeth. His "regrown" teeth were not normal looking or impressive at all. Edit: Flourine is more toxic than lead, I wouldn't put that in my mouth even if it cured lead poisoning. Some kids have died in the dentist chair after swallowing their flouride treatments in the past. (maybe it's safer now?) Flouride treatments actually make bone and teeth more brittle, as they replace the calcium. (note, tempting controversy with this subject, I realize this. It's worth doing research on the topic) Edit: I have flouride scarring on my teeth from childhood flouride treatments. This is a common thing.
    - nate_meurer 9y ago
      Elemental fluorine may be more toxic than lead in some ways, but that's irrelevant here. The sodium fluoride added to toothpaste and water is a completely different animal from free fluorine or hydrogen fluoride, and has very low toxicity. Fluoride treatments do not make bones and teeth more brittle, nor does fluorine "replace" calcium. Fluoride treatments are applied directly to your teeth, and work by converting some of the outer enamel into fluoroapatite, which is a more acid-resistant form of the predominant hydroxyapatite. If you rinse and spit after treatments and after brushing, you're ingesting very little fluoride. In amounts far greater than those allowed in municipal water, fluorides can disrupt bone metabolism, causing loss of strength. By far the biggest sources of fluoride contamination in drinking water world-wide are natural, and pose a great challenge because fluorides are as difficult to remove as any other soluble salt. The discoloration on your teeth is not a "scar" in any sense of the word, and unless you have clinically significant dental fluorosis, it is completely harmless.
      - RobertRoberts 9y ago
        Look into government research on dental carries (they don't use the word cavities) you will find that no treatment works if bacteria grows in the cracks of your teeth. Where tooth brush bristles can't get to, and acid from food is an irrelevant issue. Therefore, fluoride provides no benefit whatsoever as it doesn't fill in the cracks. (plastic sealants do though) Here's how toxic the fluoride is that used by dentists. "Referring to a common salt of fluoride, sodium fluoride (NaF), the lethal dose for most adult humans is estimated at 5 to 10 g (which is equivalent to 32 to 64 mg/kg elemental fluoride/kg body weight)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity From the New York Times, a child died from fluoride while at the dentist. (he ingested 3 times the amount needed to kill him) "According to a Nassau County toxicologist, Dr. Jesse Bidanset, William ingested 45 cubic centimeters of 2 percent stannous fluoride solution, triple an amount sufficient to have been fatal." http://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/20/archives/750000-given-in-childs-death-in-fluoride-case-boy-3-was-in-city.html http://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/20/archives/750000-given-in-c...
        nate_meurer 9y ago
        Looks like you need to re-read that research :) Bacteriogenic acid is always the direct cause of dental caries, whether in crown fissures or on the sides of teeth [1]. Fluoride helps prevent the development and growth of crown fissures in the first place, and although fissures are difficult to clean once established, it's simply not true that fluoride "provides no benefit whatsoever". Fissures are difficult to clean with bristle brushes, but it completely depends on their depth and shape. For years now I've had a couple of deep fissures in my molars that regularly get food stuck in them, and I have no problem cleaning them out with my Sonicare and toothpaste. Regarding the toxicity of fluoride, you realize what a huge dose 32-64 mg/kg is don't you? Do you know how many tubes of toothpaste you'd have to eat to reach those levels? Take a guess. For perspective, the WHO's target for water fluoridation is 0.5-1.5 mg/L. The William Kennerly case is the case cited by anti-fluoridation activists. Note that it occurred over 40 years ago, and other cases of acknowledged fluoride toxicity are exceedingly rare, in spite of the fact that millions of fluoride treatments are administered to children each year, and in spite of the vast number of toddlers caught eating toothpaste each year. I should say that I'm not one to argue that fluoride is completely harmless, and I'm on the fence about its use on children. My kids used non-fluoride toothpaste until they started growing permanent teeth, and then I brushed their teeth until age 5 or 6. And I carefully impressed on them the importance of always spitting out the toothpaste, actually using the word "poisonous" to motivate them. 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8259/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8259/
  - pedalpete 9y ago
    I don't think he is talking about 'regrowing teeth', he's talking about repairing a cavity. I know very little about the science of this, so I could be way off, but I suspect what is happening is. 1) stop further decay 2) allow calcium/mineral/other to build up in the location of the whole. As long as the nerve isn't exposed and deterioration has been stopped, isn't that the same as 'repaired teeth'?
- tootie 9y ago
  Nerves can't repair. Heart muscle neither. Nor can teeth.
  - nugi 9y ago
    Heart muscle repairs quite well... as do nerves. Have you got a single source for your claims? You can literally google "heart muscle repair" with hundreds of results refuting you.
    - tootie 9y ago
      Uh, all those articles are about experimental stem cell treatment. Absent a medical intervention, heart tissue damage from a heart attack can't be reversed. You can strengthen your heart the same way a healthy body can with exercise, but you can't regrow lost tissue. No more than you can recover from brain damage.
  - parliament32 9y ago
    Nerves can definitely regrow. Slowly (1mm/year afaik), but it's definitely possible. I took off the top 1cm of my thumb with a table saw a few years back, had it stitched back on, and I'm just regaining feeling in parts of it now.
  - nate_meurer 9y ago
    Your teeth absolutely can repair themselves, and are in fact constantly doing so using much the same resorption-remineralization processes that your bones use. Many things can tip the scales in favor of the remineralzation side. Diet, cleaning, and increasing saliva circulation appear to be the main ones.

Wait, ok. Humans can fix their teeth by not eating too much sugars and acids, cleaning their teeth and swishing spit around? If you're for real, please donate yourself to science :|

RobertRoberts 9y ago

lol, I actually chuckled. I think everyone has the ability. What parts on our body can't self repair? I think it's very few things. Also, I met a guy years ago that could regrow full teeth if they got knocked out. The world is a weird place.

sli 9y ago
I could maybe buy a tooth slowly repairing, especially with fluoride or something, but regrowing whole teeth? I don't buy that for a second.
- RobertRoberts 9y ago
  Well, he could have been wrong or lying, but showed where little baby teeth were growing in... so who knows. :P He said some people can do it. Or had a few extra teeth. His "regrown" teeth were not normal looking or impressive at all. Edit: Flourine is more toxic than lead, I wouldn't put that in my mouth even if it cured lead poisoning. Some kids have died in the dentist chair after swallowing their flouride treatments in the past. (maybe it's safer now?) Flouride treatments actually make bone and teeth more brittle, as they replace the calcium. (note, tempting controversy with this subject, I realize this. It's worth doing research on the topic) Edit: I have flouride scarring on my teeth from childhood flouride treatments. This is a common thing.
  - nate_meurer 9y ago
    Elemental fluorine may be more toxic than lead in some ways, but that's irrelevant here. The sodium fluoride added to toothpaste and water is a completely different animal from free fluorine or hydrogen fluoride, and has very low toxicity. Fluoride treatments do not make bones and teeth more brittle, nor does fluorine "replace" calcium. Fluoride treatments are applied directly to your teeth, and work by converting some of the outer enamel into fluoroapatite, which is a more acid-resistant form of the predominant hydroxyapatite. If you rinse and spit after treatments and after brushing, you're ingesting very little fluoride. In amounts far greater than those allowed in municipal water, fluorides can disrupt bone metabolism, causing loss of strength. By far the biggest sources of fluoride contamination in drinking water world-wide are natural, and pose a great challenge because fluorides are as difficult to remove as any other soluble salt. The discoloration on your teeth is not a "scar" in any sense of the word, and unless you have clinically significant dental fluorosis, it is completely harmless.
    - RobertRoberts 9y ago
      Look into government research on dental carries (they don't use the word cavities) you will find that no treatment works if bacteria grows in the cracks of your teeth. Where tooth brush bristles can't get to, and acid from food is an irrelevant issue. Therefore, fluoride provides no benefit whatsoever as it doesn't fill in the cracks. (plastic sealants do though) Here's how toxic the fluoride is that used by dentists. "Referring to a common salt of fluoride, sodium fluoride (NaF), the lethal dose for most adult humans is estimated at 5 to 10 g (which is equivalent to 32 to 64 mg/kg elemental fluoride/kg body weight)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fluoride_toxicity From the New York Times, a child died from fluoride while at the dentist. (he ingested 3 times the amount needed to kill him) "According to a Nassau County toxicologist, Dr. Jesse Bidanset, William ingested 45 cubic centimeters of 2 percent stannous fluoride solution, triple an amount sufficient to have been fatal." http://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/20/archives/750000-given-in-childs-death-in-fluoride-case-boy-3-was-in-city.html http://www.nytimes.com/1979/01/20/archives/750000-given-in-c...
      - nate_meurer 9y ago
        Looks like you need to re-read that research :) Bacteriogenic acid is always the direct cause of dental caries, whether in crown fissures or on the sides of teeth [1]. Fluoride helps prevent the development and growth of crown fissures in the first place, and although fissures are difficult to clean once established, it's simply not true that fluoride "provides no benefit whatsoever". Fissures are difficult to clean with bristle brushes, but it completely depends on their depth and shape. For years now I've had a couple of deep fissures in my molars that regularly get food stuck in them, and I have no problem cleaning them out with my Sonicare and toothpaste. Regarding the toxicity of fluoride, you realize what a huge dose 32-64 mg/kg is don't you? Do you know how many tubes of toothpaste you'd have to eat to reach those levels? Take a guess. For perspective, the WHO's target for water fluoridation is 0.5-1.5 mg/L. The William Kennerly case is the case cited by anti-fluoridation activists. Note that it occurred over 40 years ago, and other cases of acknowledged fluoride toxicity are exceedingly rare, in spite of the fact that millions of fluoride treatments are administered to children each year, and in spite of the vast number of toddlers caught eating toothpaste each year. I should say that I'm not one to argue that fluoride is completely harmless, and I'm on the fence about its use on children. My kids used non-fluoride toothpaste until they started growing permanent teeth, and then I brushed their teeth until age 5 or 6. And I carefully impressed on them the importance of always spitting out the toothpaste, actually using the word "poisonous" to motivate them. 1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8259/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8259/
- pedalpete 9y ago
  I don't think he is talking about 'regrowing teeth', he's talking about repairing a cavity. I know very little about the science of this, so I could be way off, but I suspect what is happening is. 1) stop further decay 2) allow calcium/mineral/other to build up in the location of the whole. As long as the nerve isn't exposed and deterioration has been stopped, isn't that the same as 'repaired teeth'?
tootie 9y ago
Nerves can't repair. Heart muscle neither. Nor can teeth.
- nugi 9y ago
  Heart muscle repairs quite well... as do nerves. Have you got a single source for your claims? You can literally google "heart muscle repair" with hundreds of results refuting you.
  - tootie 9y ago
    Uh, all those articles are about experimental stem cell treatment. Absent a medical intervention, heart tissue damage from a heart attack can't be reversed. You can strengthen your heart the same way a healthy body can with exercise, but you can't regrow lost tissue. No more than you can recover from brain damage.
- parliament32 9y ago
  Nerves can definitely regrow. Slowly (1mm/year afaik), but it's definitely possible. I took off the top 1cm of my thumb with a table saw a few years back, had it stitched back on, and I'm just regaining feeling in parts of it now.
- nate_meurer 9y ago
  Your teeth absolutely can repair themselves, and are in fact constantly doing so using much the same resorption-remineralization processes that your bones use. Many things can tip the scales in favor of the remineralzation side. Diet, cleaning, and increasing saliva circulation appear to be the main ones.