21 ms·

Trials begin on lozenge that rebuilds tooth enamel

1189 points by beefman 5y ago

Black101 5y ago
Please get those crooked dentists out of work, as much as possible.
- rubyist5eva 5y ago
  Let me guess..dentists should provide their valuable services free of charge because...?
  - Black101 5y ago
    being honest and competent would be enough...
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- VierScar 5y ago
  Crooked dentists? Is this some sort of conspiracy theory? Dentists are medical professionals, who have been needed since the dark ages, and nowadays have very complex equipment and technology to ensure the best long-term and life-like suitable treatments for people. What are you on about?
  - 542458 5y ago
    To be fair, dentists do engage in what really looks like price fixing (at least where I am, and to an outside eye). Every dentist here charges the exact same amount, regardless of whether they’re in the middle of a high-income metropolitan area or in bumkinville. Also every once in a while you see some real horror stories of dentists doing unnecessary procedures on sedated patients, and although the extreme cases are absolutely the exception, I always do have to wonder if I actually need the (often expensive) treatments they recommend.
    - sithadmin 5y ago
      >Every dentist here charges the exact same amount, regardless of whether they’re in the middle of a high-income metropolitan area or in bumkinville In the USA? If so, that's probably moreso a result of the reimbursement structures imposed by dental insurance companies, rather than active collusion among dentists.
    - OJFord 5y ago
      In the UK it is price fixed... By the NHS centrally. (Private practices exist too.) Iirc, a check-up is £22, incl. anything relatively standard they need to do (cleaning, sealing, I think even the cheap non-white or whatever fillings, etc.). Certainly not an amount to be annoyed at the lack of reduction through competition.
  - bpodgursky 5y ago
    Ehhh... dentists (even the not-obvious-scam ones) are notorious for overprescribing expensive and invasive unnecessary treatments. They are medical professionals of course, and few are recommending completely nonsense, but it's like, if go to a plastic surgeon... they are probably going to find plastic surgery to perform. Not that it's _wrong_, just that it's really not necessary when you balance in the cost.
  - miles 5y ago
    > Crooked dentists? ... What are you on about? Like any profession, dentistry has it share of charlatans: The Truth About Dentistry https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-tro...
    - MaxBarraclough 5y ago
      What became of the criminal case against Lund?
  - mikem170 5y ago
    There are crooked dentists. I've moved around a lot and been to a lot of dentists. There's a few that I trust, but also slightly more than a few who have tried to rip me off. I've had dental offices that try to sell/bill me for extra cavities (7 at one place!), preventative crowns, sneaking in fluoride treatments and other add-ons to a cleaning, and periodontal cleanings. In all of these occasions I'd get other opinions, often more than one, and would be told by other dentists that I didn't need these treatments.. I've found that dentists are more variable than car mechanics, meaning that if you go to three dentists you might end up with three different treatment recommendations. I've also had two hygienists tell me they would never go to a corporate/franchise/national dental chain, after having worked at these places and seeing first hand how they've taken advantage of people, going as far as recommending implants that weren't needed. Based on my experiences I would concur.
  - Black101 5y ago
    Last time I went to the dentist for a chipped tooth that didn't hurt, I was told that I needed a root canal... 6 visits later and 2 root canal treatment on the same tooth, my tooth is now sensitive to heat and pressure (and I had to pay $1600 for this shitty treatment)... The previous time I had a tooth issue, I had a similar experience (both in the US but in different states). I will try Mexico next time.
- bachmeier 5y ago
  You're a rabid anti-dentite. Next thing you know you're saying they should have their own schools.
  - muststopmyths 5y ago
    I remember when this episode aired. I brought it up with my dentist on my next visit and for some reason she wasn't amused.
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
Tempest1981 5y ago
> The lozenge produces new enamel that is whiter than what tooth-whitening strips or gels produce. I wonder how white? I'm a bit nervous about having those over-whitened glow-in-the-dark teeth, that you sometimes see. Memories of that Friends episode, too.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- bamboozled 5y ago
  Who are you talking to?
- redisman 5y ago
  My coffee habit will make short work of any overly white teeth.
  - gabereiser 5y ago
    Haha, I was just going to say this. My 4 cup habit a day has destroyed any chance of having white teeth. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t white.
    - jcims 5y ago
      I used to drink that much coffee. I got an espresso machine and started making americanos instead now I’m good with one cup a day. I don’t know what it is, clearly the caffeine is either higher or more bioavailabile or something, but it just sates my appetite for coffee. (Actually i started making cappucinos first and stopped when i started putting on weight from them lol)
      - jrockway 5y ago
        I don't think you're using units that could allow anyone to detect whether it's caffeine quantity or bioavailability that's at play. It depends on how you dose your espresso and drip coffee. I don't drink espresso but I think people are dosing something like 20 grams per shot, whereas for pourover they're dosing 18 grams of water per gram of coffee. For a standard "coffee cup" (which is 5 ounces of water that results in 4 ounces of coffee = 148 g of brew water), you're using 8g of coffee. Where I'm going with this is if your portafilter takes 40g of coffee for a double shot espresso, that is more coffee than 32g of coffee you'd use to brew 4 "cups", so you're just drinking more coffee. But, standard cups are a dumb unit (my coffee mug holds 400mL of water), so it's possible you aren't using that, and the espresso has a better caffeinating effect for the same amount of caffeine. We can't know because the words and units are conflated in so many ways (there's a cup, which is a drinking vessel, there's the cooking cup which is like 230mL, and there's the coffee cup which is 148mL of water in to get 118mL of coffee out). I'm not a stickler for metric vs. imperial (I use both), but "cup" is a terrible terrible unit that needs to die. Use grams for anything coffee-related.
endisneigh 5y ago
Assuming this works, isn't this pretty much game over for dentists? I'm aware that dentists do more than fillings, but it seems like there would be a serious contraction, even if this costed something like $1000 a tooth after insurance. That being said, even if this worked, it's not like it's instant, so you still have to be careful with your teeth. I wonder how this differs from novamin, which supposedly does the same thing and you can already purchase now.
- johnkpaul 5y ago
  Hah I felt this same way when I discovered you can change your diet to basically completely remove all dental problems. I doubt society can possible change quickly enough for us to see the downfall of the profession.
  - killermouse0 5y ago
    Would you care to elaborate on those diet changes?
    - wyager 5y ago
      Eliminate things bacteria can efficiently metabolize, consume things that humans can efficiently metabolize. Namely, eliminate saccharides (sugar, plant starches, etc.) and get your calories from fat instead. Improved dentition is only one of many benefits.
    - tom_mellior 5y ago
      "Diet = dental health" is bullshit. My partner was raised sugar-free and has horrible teeth with many cavities. So does their entire family. I was raised on a diet which included many forms of sweets, and I have never had a cavity. Same for my entire family. Genetics or other biological predisposition seems to be a major factor. Diet might help a bit, but don't expect any magical effects.
  - joshuahughes 5y ago
    Presumably no sugar being the primary factor. No carbs too?
danschumann 5y ago
Will this help Mitch Hedberg enthusiasts realize his dream of having just two long curvy teeth?
Hamuko 5y ago
>In addition, the researchers are investigating a gel or solution with the engineered peptide to treat hypersensitive teeth. This problem results from weakness in the enamel that makes the underlying dentin and nerves more vulnerable to heat or cold. Most common products currently on the market can put a layer of organic material on the tooth and numb nerve endings with potassium nitrate, but the relief is only temporary. The peptide, however, addresses the problem permanently at its source by strengthening the enamel. I want this so badly. I've never had a cavity despite my poor dental hygiene habits and lack of dental practice visits but apparently I suffer from bruxism that can make half of my teeth hurt whenever I bite on anything harder than a wet noodle. Just now I brushed my teeth with a pain-numbing toothpaste and just the act of brushing my teeth made them hurt. Although sometimes I can go for some time without pain, it's been pretty much a constant in my life for the last years.
- robocat 5y ago
  For anybody that grinds their teeth, investigate getting a splint before you reach this stage. https://www.coredental.com.au/splints-dentist-recommend-one/ https://www.coredental.com.au/splints-dentist-recommend-one/
  - djxfade 5y ago
    I struggle with this. However I don't know what to do. I couldn't wear a splint, because I have a very sensitive gag reflex. I can almost start vomiting just by brushing me teeths...
    - danielheath 5y ago
      Soft mouth guards as are used for contact sports? You dip them in hot water and then bite to form them, so they aren’t near your gag reflex.
      - djxfade 5y ago
        Yeah. I think the issue might be more a psychological one, I gag very easily
defaultname 5y ago
How does this compare with Sensodyne Repair and Protect? That product uses Novamin and effective rebuilds enamel, also offering whitening, reduced sensitivity, etc.
- danielheath 5y ago
  Repair is not rebuilding. “Repair” toothpaste chemically strengthens existing enamel.
  - defaultname 5y ago
    Fluoride strengthens enamel. Novamin remineralizes enamel. It "rebuilds" it. How Sensodyne markets it is largely irrelevant. Indeed, this product targets sensitivity which is exactly what Novamin does (by remineralizing those tiny holes permanently, versus traditional sensitivity products that simply "clog" them temporarily). Note that Novamin-containing Sensodyne is an overseas thing that you have to import. For whatever reason they didn't seek FDA approval in the US so the product there is sans it.
- pier25 5y ago
  I've used Sensodyne for years for sensitivity issues. Last year, I tried a new version with whitening and after a couple of weeks my teeth started hurting all day long. It took me a couple of days until I made the connection. I stopped using that and went back to what is being sold (here in Mexico) as Sensodyne Original.
- wodenokoto 5y ago
  I asked my dentist about novamin after it trended on HN a few months ago. Apparently every toothpaste brand has a number of proprietary compounds that, according to their own research, is the biggest thing since flouride. Sensodyne has Novamin, I don't know the name of Colgates, but I am sure they list it on one of their websites. Why HN has taken to Novamin, I don't know. Maybe it is because it was taken off the American market? Anyway, it doesn't seem like Novamin makes a real difference: According to a 2020 literature review, > ... the objective of this review is to find out the current evidence available on the use of Novamin as an agent for remineralization. > ... and at 6 months’ time point the p-value is 0.81 concluding that there are no significant difference of remineralization process obtained by using traditional toothpaste and Novamin. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/
ALittleLight 5y ago
The fact that they've already tested this on extracted human teeth seems promising (I assume it worked there). Hopeful this works! Great advance, if so.
benjaminwootton 5y ago
There really needs to be something like this. When we look back on dentistry in 50-100 years we will be amazed how barbaric it was! Ouch!
- nemo44x 5y ago
  I think about this fairly often. When getting a root canal (it doesn’t hurt!) it’s sort of odd to see in this day and age the tools they use.
  - monoideism 5y ago
    > (it doesn’t hurt!) It doesn't hurt for you. Some people, including myself, have had root canals that have almost caused worse pain than when I was in the ICU.
    - Invictus0 5y ago
      That's the parent's point: the tools and methods have changed so that now it no longer hurts.
      - imglorp 5y ago
        Even now, sometimes it does hurt, plenty. Local anesthesia can be somehow negated by bacterial infection, something involving the pH getting altered. My endo apologized but had to keep drilling to reach relief.
        dawnerd 5y ago
        I had to suffer through one as well. They have me the max number of shots after being on antibiotics and the pain was still unbelievable. Worst part… the dentist messed up and the whole root canal was for nothing.
      - monoideism 5y ago
        This was 5 years ago. We're all different. Some people respond poorly to root canals, some feel moderate pain, some feel absolutely no pain. And to be clear, the pain has been after my root canal, not during (even though ostensibly, the nerve is gone). My worst root canal was infected, but the endodontist claims that it usually doesn't cause that much pain (perhaps, but not for some people). My mother and uncle have had the same issues. My father has never had issues.
pier25 5y ago
I've always wondered how come there wasn't more effort put into something like this. It's a huge business opportunity. Everyone hates going to the dentist.
- SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
  Hair is a bigger market. Not in terms of people it affects, but what people will pay. But.... likewise, it amazes me we have a million and a half ways to grow hair on mice, but none on humans. Makes me think we need to relax human trials on volunteers (only half joking).
  - eyelidlessness 5y ago
    It’s really astonishing how I know, intuitively, this is true but how weird people’s priorities are. Being honest: 1. I started balding at a relatively normal age (first signs late 20s). At first I welcomed it, then I got a little self conscious (and wished for greys instead, those are finally coming into my beard and I couldn’t be happier). 2. I’ve had dental health issues since childhood. My family couldn’t afford regular dental care and I’ve always worried about it. 3. My teeth have rapidly deteriorated in my late 30s. I can’t currently afford any dental care and I already know I’m looking at drastic solutions when I can. Having both a thin head of hair and a mouth full of trash, I know what I’d prioritize given the chance to magically turn back time time or scientifically reverse the worst of my biology. And it’s not my hair. Shaving/trimming/styling baldness is trivial. My mouth is an unavoidable turnoff, a constant terrible personal experience, and an ongoing health risk. It’s bonkers to me that there’s more money in solving hair than solving teeth, even though I know it’s true.
    - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
      Contrasting points... You can close your mouth., but can’t stop someone from looking at your head. You can surgically replace all your teeth with perfect replicas and no one will be able to tell otherwise except in how perfect they are. The cost for this isn’t low, but nor is it unobtainable. I bet $10k in Eastern Europe gets you nice teeth for the rest of your life. There is just no great option for hair. Even with infinite money like Musk or Bezos, you have plugs or nothing. But... if this enamel deal helps you, I’m glad!
jcrben 5y ago
Weird teeth-cleaning trick that I discovered from suffering from interstitial cystitis / painful bladder syndrome (IC / BPS): toss a bit of baking soda in your water, such as 1 teaspoon per liter. It makes it alkaline. My teeth got whiter and felt better (less of a film feeling). Baking soda is used as a cooking ingredient and shouldn't be too risky, but don't go overboard... bit of discussion on the IC / BPS aspect in the two citations below (including risks): [Effects of urine alkalinization with sodium bicarbonate orally on lower urinary tract symptoms in female patients: a pilot study](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00192-017-3492-3 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00192-017-3492-...) [Urine alkalization improves the problems of pain and sleep in hypersensitive bladder syndrome](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24224617 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24224617) UPDATE: Also check edathamil toothpaste as I mentioned in a below comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27329165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27329165
- xxpor 5y ago
  Isn't baking soda a fairly common ingredient in toothpaste? (See arm and hammer brand toothpaste)
  - jcrben 5y ago
    Yep. Altho I've been using LivFresh which contains edathamil [1] and has no baking soda. The benefit of it being in your water is that you get that constant little flush of it [1] [Effects of a Novel Dental Gel on Plaque and Gingivitis: A Comparative Study](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d87n65m https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d87n65m)
  - caturopath 5y ago
    Yes, very much so -- "natural" types have been known to recommend just using baking soda instead of toothpaste. FWIW, brushing is the more important part (even without paste it probably does most of the good), but modern toothpastes are better than baking soda because they are more abrasive and because they contain fluoride. Baking soda's main utility for toothbrushing is its abrasiveness, but it's a little too soft to be optimal. To get the most out of your toothpaste's fluoride, spit out your toothpaste and do not immediately rinse. You don't want to swallow large amounts of toothpaste, of course, but the film does more good than harm -- https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-keep-your-teeth-clean/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-keep-your-t... "Don't rinse your mouth immediately after brushing, as it'll wash away the concentrated fluoride in the remaining toothpaste."
rocky1138 5y ago
If we chew on enough of these lozenges, will our teeth merge into one, curved megatooth?
- OJFord 5y ago
  And why haven't we evolved to have that yet anyway? It's surely better, nowhere for food to get stuck? (Assuming it can still be molar/canine/incisor like in different places on that plane.)
  - eyelidlessness 5y ago
    We haven’t even evolved to have a single set of teeth. We’re born with stand ins that grow out and push “baby” teeth out. They’re pretty much set up to be disposable, we just haven’t evolved a good replacement pipeline.
  - webmaven 5y ago
    > And why haven't we evolved to have that yet anyway? It's surely better, nowhere for food to get, stuck? (Assuming it can still be molar/canine/incisor like in different places on that plane.) Well, in software terms, you're describing a monolithic architecture. A single cavity would destroy the whole thing. You'd probably have to replace the choppers more frequently as your skull grows into adulthood, or we would have to be born with larger jaws that don't need to grow as much as we mature. There is also the matter of how evolvable the platform would be. As a species, we're in the process of losing our wisdom teeth, and I suspect that would be harder to do if the skull/jaw/gum/tooth platform was... more tightly coupled, less modular. I myself never had any wisdom teeth, and kept a couple of my milk teeth into my 40s before one had to be replaced with a crown, and the other just fell out when the root dissolved. Human dentition has a lot of variability. Still, birds did it (as have other species over the Earth's long evolutionary history), so it isn't an insoluble challenge, but it would be a rather more radical change than just fusing teeth together.
  - riffraff 5y ago
    my understanding is that we're basically not supposed to live long enough to care, evolution didn't have time to overcorrect for abundance of sugar and people living into old age.
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nikolay 5y ago
A whole dental line has been available in Germany for years - Apacare [0]. [0]: https://www.apacare.com/ https://www.apacare.com/
- nikolay 5y ago
  I just found they have a gum solution as well - GengiGel [0]. [0]: https://www.gengigel.de/ https://www.gengigel.de/
  - Giorgi 5y ago
    Nope, completely different thing: Xylitol, Gum Base, Calcium Phosphate, Acacia Gum, Glycerin, Aroma, CI 77891, Lecitin of Soya, Glycyrrhiza Glabra Extract, Cera Carnauba.
    - nikolay 5y ago
      This is a different product - as I clarified, it claiming benefits for gums' health due to its hyaluronate contents.
- NaN1352 5y ago
  > Brush your teeth for 3 minutes in the morning and in the evening. (apacare site) When do you do it though? Doesn’t it undermine the brushing if you eat or drink coffee within an hour afterwards? Or does it not matter and you brush first thing in the morning?
- Etheryte 5y ago
  The results for hydroxyapatite seem to be mixed, some studies have found it has no statistically significant benefit over fluoride toothpaste [0], while others have found some benefit [1][2]. Interesting none the less, thanks for linking to it. [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41405-019-0026-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41405-019-0026-8 [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25019114/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25019114/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5121804/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5121804/
Waterluvian 5y ago
Call me paranoid but I'm curious what % of the industry exists because of cavities? How much of a typical dentist office's time is spent repairing cavities? I'm not suggesting some conspiracy. Just that market motivations might be misaligned.
- artificial 5y ago
  Interesting point. Wouldn’t that raise something deeper about sugar vs fat consumption?
fmsf 5y ago
This sounds very similar to the toothpaste and dental products with polypeptides that these guys do https://www.credentis.com/en/publications/ https://www.credentis.com/en/publications/ (edit: replace link of products with publications)
- Giorgi 5y ago
  Nope, that would be same old Xylitol
batter 5y ago
Believe me or not but if you have tooth sensitivity i would check sodium balance. Especially if you urinate frequently. This can ruin your teeth for long time. Yoga wheel for upper back can help.
- zaphod4prez 5y ago
  Can you talk more about this? How do you check your sodium balance? I'm intrigued (and have tooth sensitivity). Thank you!
  - batter 5y ago
    I'm not sure what's happening. Couldn't find any related studies. But i have seen in couple friends already if you have teeth sensitivity and teeth that go bad frequently you might have problem with upper back. This leads to too much urination. Especially if you don't drink a lot. Kidneys need sodium for functioning. I can only speculate that kidneys for some reason are forced to lose sodium with urine and as result you'll have tooth sensitivity or even heart problems. My observation showed that upper back backward bend helps to eliminate that. And this might be the result of bad posture. But definitely i don't have good understanding what's happening, because I'm not a doc. Just try to bend like for gymnastics bridge (yoga wheel can help or sturdy park bench) and see yourself. It will take just couple days to show results,
- refurb 5y ago
  Your body maintains your sodium levels in a very tight band. Why? Your nerves won’t function otherwise. If it gets outside that range you typically die. So I’ll have to say I’m highly skeptical about “checking your sodium balance”.
  - batter 5y ago
    From this study: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/good-heart-keep-holding-salt-201607119952 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/good-heart-keep-holding-... we can see that low sodium impacts heart desease, even though your body controls it in tight range. I do agree that most probably your sodium level in blood will be in tight range. But I'm other places like saliva it could be deficient. Saliva PH strips would be a good start
0xbadcafebee 5y ago
When the orthodontist finally removed my braces as a kid, it also removed most of the enamel from the front of my teeth. I wish I had been told that and given a choice, because I'd honestly prefer strong, healthy, white, crooked teeth, to stained weak cavity-filled straight ones. (And the bottom row grew crooked anyway)
qwerty456127 5y ago
Through the decades, many have claimed they solved the tooth decay problem. Nobody ever shipped a product, let alone a working one. This is the next one in the series so long I feel extremely skeptical. Even if it actually works it will probably cost some crazy money (part of which will hopefully go to a fund to support millions of jobless dentists /s). Nevertheless I'm glad this popped up here anyway.
- totalZero 5y ago
  This isn't so much a prevention of tooth decay as it is a contribution to the hydroxyapatite crystal structure in a non-regenerable part of your tooth.
  - qwerty456127 5y ago
    Could you please explain? What is a non-regenerable part of a tooth and what is a regenerable part of it? Why repairing its crystal structure is not a prevention of its decay?
    - s0rce 5y ago
      The outer hard enamel layer of your teeth is acellular and cannot regenerate after it forms. Its been a while since I worked in this field (my PhD) but the inner dentin has some ability to regenerate due to the adjacent cells in the pulp. I'm not really sure I understand what the previous comment is saying about the crystal structure. All of the tooth (enamel and dentin) and bone mineral related carbonate "hydroxyl" apatite is crystalline with some additional amorphous material in between.
echelon 5y ago
I'm anxious that this could cause cancer or long term disease states as it works its way through your digestion system. This is a wildly novel approach being applied orally. I'd love for this to work, but they're relying on the fact this doesn't interact with other bodily tissues.
qPM9l3XJrF 5y ago
How about rebuilding the bone the tooth grows out of? My dentist says that my teeth look great, but the x-ray of my alveolar bones that support those teeth look like that of someone 10 years older than me.
- chimen 5y ago
  That would basically cure periodontal disease which would be huge. I don't think so, not this decade at least :)
Juntu 5y ago
The amalgum and bubble gum cures anything for jaws and tooth aches in time the mouth lips teeth and gums become worsen when the tribulation of aged teeth’s become in sense of whos teeth do i have enamel holds the tooth when in a fight our brain lets go of stiffness of the body that which cared can let us know that’s too danger for trials to begin. Upvote
xivzgrev 5y ago
This is cool but I really want something that can regrow my gums. I’ve had some recession and I have sensitivity to cold liquids. The dentists say the only option is surgery
- etxm 5y ago
  Same. I’ve had two grafts in the same area (cadaver and auto) and neither of them held. What drives me wild is I floss twice a day, brush three times a day with the daintiest grip you’ve ever seen. Every time I go to the dentist, recession. Meanwhile my spouse brushes once a day, maybe flosses occasionally and has never had recession or a cavity.
  - SoylentYellow 5y ago
    I'm about to get a donor graft soon. Why didn't your's work out?
    - etxm 5y ago
      Not exactly sure. My current dentist said it’s rare for an autograft not to take, but it didn’t. He said my surgeon must have sucked.
jb775 5y ago
> The idea for the lozenge design originated with Deniz Yucesoy, a graduate student in the UW’s Genetically Engineered Materials Science and Engineering Center who received a $100,000 Amazon Catalyst grant This grad-student/researcher just handed over a multi-million dollar business to Amazon in exchange for $100k towards the research. Why on Earth would anyone sign over 100% ownership of their idea, just to be able to test their idea? I guess he thought it would look good on his resume as begs a company for a job after graduation? Who owns the IP if I join Amazon Catalyst?[1] Amazon Catalyst is a place to see your idea come to fruition without the risk of starting a company on your own. As such, the IP that is developed in Amazon Catalyst is property of Amazon.[1] [1] https://catalyst.amazon.com/ https://catalyst.amazon.com/
- foolfoolz 5y ago
  what if there’s more to an idea than how much money you personally can extract from it?
  - genericone 5y ago
    Theres more to an idea than how much a billionaire can trick you to part with it too though.
  - jb775 5y ago
    Yeah, how altruistic of him to hand the idea over to a group of bloodsucking capitalists that'll use it to extract as much profit from the world as possible.
- genericone 5y ago
  That doesnt appear to be a grant at all then! Are government or nonprofit grants ever attached to IP ownership terms?
  - cossatot 5y ago
    Usually the IP goes to the employer (i.e. the university) rather than the individual researcher.
nibsfive 5y ago
Also: try nanohydroxyapetate.
swader999 5y ago
What if this works too well? Everyone is going to look like a beaver.
williesleg 5y ago
4 out of 5 dentists surveyed will stop this.
The_rationalist 5y ago
Peptide medecine (heavily researched in Russia) has a magical potential. Through epigenetic changes it can alter almost anything: Anti Ageing Changing your skin color Atypical stimulant: semax Atypical anxiolitic:selank Physical performance/recovery Eye health Etc... There even is a peptide covid vaccine Discover more at r/peptides
JWoolfenden 5y ago
This hasn't even started trials, so its as good as my cousin freds snakeoil potice.
docflabby 5y ago
I found sensodyn repair and protect less effective than regenerate nr5? Anyone else used this product? https://www.regeneratenr5.co.uk/products/advanced-toothpaste https://www.regeneratenr5.co.uk/products/advanced-toothpaste
- donogh 5y ago
  I’m using repair and protect, and I have no idea whether it’s doing anything. Experienced a much greater impact by cutting out most added sugar from my diet (including in coffee). On Regenerate NR5, there seems to be skepticism on Reddit. This analysis looks solid: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dentistry/comments/2afh74/has_anyone_heard_about_regenerate_and_their_nr5/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Dentistry/comments/2afh74/has_anyon... It suggests they’re using fairly standard ingredients that are present in many toothpastes. Caveat emptor..
  - dEnigma 5y ago
    Hopefully not cavity emptor
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Giorgi 5y ago
If there is even small amount of truth in this, it is going to revolutionize dentist industry. In fact make it obsolete leaving only surgeries.
runawaybottle 5y ago
Chris Rock had a good story about when he got rich enough he just got brand new teeth. It’s something I’ve thought about. If you get to a decent enough income level, why not just pay the price? One medical tourism visit to Costa Rica, and voila, problem solved.
cenkozan 5y ago
Highly out of context, but, another Turkish researcher outside Turkey, probably escaping Islamist government that's effing up Turkey, and coming up with ground breaking innovations. A a Turk, don't know if I should be thankful or mad as hell.
- Sunspark 5y ago
  You can be both. You can be thankful that opportunities exist for them to practice their craft and bring things into the world to make it better. You can also be mad that they couldn't do it at home because of the regime which really does do ridiculous things like set monetary interest rates ignoring that it's still connected to the international financial system.
NoblePublius 5y ago
Dentists will hate this and, if it works, conspire to destroy it. Dentists operate a mostly cash business dependent on disease care. The less you care for your teeth, the more money they make. The more procedures they perform, the more money they make. Good luck.
throwcoke 5y ago
I've been drinking diet coke all day (about 3 liters/day) for many years, which causes my teeth to be less than white and also rather sensitive. Besides the coloring, I suspect that the enamel is being thinned down by the citric/phosphoric acid. I have no chronic pain, but the cosmetic aspect and the sensitivity bothers me. TFA sounds like that treatment could help. Any other recommendations for my situation? I can't brush agressively due to receding gums. I use a chlorhexidine solution regularly, which helps preventing inflammation/aphthae in the mouth, which I used to have quite often prior to discovering CHX. And no, dialing down the diet coke is unfortunately not possible for me. ;)
- sabco 5y ago
  Why is reducing the diet coke not possible for you? I don't mean to ask this as a snide remark, I'm just curious.
  - throwcoke 5y ago
    It's a strong addiction. I'm a device for turning diet code into working software ;) [1]. I need the caffeine kick. I don't particularly like to drink tea or coffee (which wouldn't help with the teeth coloring anyway). And I like the taste of diet coke (or coke zero) a lot. I tried switching to water multiple times, but was unable to sustain it. I wish Coca-Cola would produce a colorless variant (like Pepsi once did), which would at least improve the whiteness. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfr%C3%A9d_R%C3%A9nyi#Quotations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfr%C3%A9d_R%C3%A9nyi#Quotati...
- briane80 5y ago
  "I've never seen a thin person drinking diet coke"
- khalilravanna 5y ago
  What about switching to seltzer you can mix with caffeine powder? If you look you should be able to find a “cola” flavored one which while not the same should at least be an approximation. From some quick googling it appears seltzer still has carbonic acid which ain’t great for your teeth but it’s not as bad as regular soda’s acid-combo [1]. [1] https://espiredental.com/is-seltzer-really-bad-for-your-teeth/ https://espiredental.com/is-seltzer-really-bad-for-your-teet...
alexander_gold 5y ago
https://superflyjetskis.shop https://superflyjetskis.shop
beefman 5y ago
This is now my highest-scoring post (since my first post in 2011), surpassing this one from 2017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14446261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14446261
jokethrowaway 5y ago
This sounds great but I wonder when we'll see something in production. I'm still waiting for Ocumetics to deliver on their bionic eyes promises or risug to deliver on reversible semi permanent male contraceptives.
andy_ppp 5y ago
Sounds great, however I hope someone checks this doesn’t end up fixing teeth and causing problems with gut health. It’s probably fine though, I guess we ingest random peptides all the while...
dkdk8283 5y ago
Can I buy this? I want it, and I’m happy with no guarantees.

1189 points by beefman 5y ago

Black101 5y ago

Please get those crooked dentists out of work, as much as possible.

rubyist5eva 5y ago
Let me guess..dentists should provide their valuable services free of charge because...?
- Black101 5y ago
  being honest and competent would be enough...
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
VierScar 5y ago
Crooked dentists? Is this some sort of conspiracy theory? Dentists are medical professionals, who have been needed since the dark ages, and nowadays have very complex equipment and technology to ensure the best long-term and life-like suitable treatments for people. What are you on about?
- 542458 5y ago
  To be fair, dentists do engage in what really looks like price fixing (at least where I am, and to an outside eye). Every dentist here charges the exact same amount, regardless of whether they’re in the middle of a high-income metropolitan area or in bumkinville. Also every once in a while you see some real horror stories of dentists doing unnecessary procedures on sedated patients, and although the extreme cases are absolutely the exception, I always do have to wonder if I actually need the (often expensive) treatments they recommend.
  - sithadmin 5y ago
    >Every dentist here charges the exact same amount, regardless of whether they’re in the middle of a high-income metropolitan area or in bumkinville In the USA? If so, that's probably moreso a result of the reimbursement structures imposed by dental insurance companies, rather than active collusion among dentists.
  - OJFord 5y ago
    In the UK it is price fixed... By the NHS centrally. (Private practices exist too.) Iirc, a check-up is £22, incl. anything relatively standard they need to do (cleaning, sealing, I think even the cheap non-white or whatever fillings, etc.). Certainly not an amount to be annoyed at the lack of reduction through competition.
- bpodgursky 5y ago
  Ehhh... dentists (even the not-obvious-scam ones) are notorious for overprescribing expensive and invasive unnecessary treatments. They are medical professionals of course, and few are recommending completely nonsense, but it's like, if go to a plastic surgeon... they are probably going to find plastic surgery to perform. Not that it's _wrong_, just that it's really not necessary when you balance in the cost.
- miles 5y ago
  > Crooked dentists? ... What are you on about? Like any profession, dentistry has it share of charlatans: The Truth About Dentistry https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-trouble-with-dentistry/586039/ https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/05/the-tro...
  - MaxBarraclough 5y ago
    What became of the criminal case against Lund?
- mikem170 5y ago
  There are crooked dentists. I've moved around a lot and been to a lot of dentists. There's a few that I trust, but also slightly more than a few who have tried to rip me off. I've had dental offices that try to sell/bill me for extra cavities (7 at one place!), preventative crowns, sneaking in fluoride treatments and other add-ons to a cleaning, and periodontal cleanings. In all of these occasions I'd get other opinions, often more than one, and would be told by other dentists that I didn't need these treatments.. I've found that dentists are more variable than car mechanics, meaning that if you go to three dentists you might end up with three different treatment recommendations. I've also had two hygienists tell me they would never go to a corporate/franchise/national dental chain, after having worked at these places and seeing first hand how they've taken advantage of people, going as far as recommending implants that weren't needed. Based on my experiences I would concur.
- Black101 5y ago
  Last time I went to the dentist for a chipped tooth that didn't hurt, I was told that I needed a root canal... 6 visits later and 2 root canal treatment on the same tooth, my tooth is now sensitive to heat and pressure (and I had to pay $1600 for this shitty treatment)... The previous time I had a tooth issue, I had a similar experience (both in the US but in different states). I will try Mexico next time.
bachmeier 5y ago
You're a rabid anti-dentite. Next thing you know you're saying they should have their own schools.
- muststopmyths 5y ago
  I remember when this episode aired. I brought it up with my dentist on my next visit and for some reason she wasn't amused.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]

Tempest1981 5y ago

> The lozenge produces new enamel that is whiter than what tooth-whitening strips or gels produce. I wonder how white? I'm a bit nervous about having those over-whitened glow-in-the-dark teeth, that you sometimes see. Memories of that Friends episode, too.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bamboozled 5y ago
Who are you talking to?
redisman 5y ago
My coffee habit will make short work of any overly white teeth.
- gabereiser 5y ago
  Haha, I was just going to say this. My 4 cup habit a day has destroyed any chance of having white teeth. They aren’t bad, but they aren’t white.
  - jcims 5y ago
    I used to drink that much coffee. I got an espresso machine and started making americanos instead now I’m good with one cup a day. I don’t know what it is, clearly the caffeine is either higher or more bioavailabile or something, but it just sates my appetite for coffee. (Actually i started making cappucinos first and stopped when i started putting on weight from them lol)
    - jrockway 5y ago
      I don't think you're using units that could allow anyone to detect whether it's caffeine quantity or bioavailability that's at play. It depends on how you dose your espresso and drip coffee. I don't drink espresso but I think people are dosing something like 20 grams per shot, whereas for pourover they're dosing 18 grams of water per gram of coffee. For a standard "coffee cup" (which is 5 ounces of water that results in 4 ounces of coffee = 148 g of brew water), you're using 8g of coffee. Where I'm going with this is if your portafilter takes 40g of coffee for a double shot espresso, that is more coffee than 32g of coffee you'd use to brew 4 "cups", so you're just drinking more coffee. But, standard cups are a dumb unit (my coffee mug holds 400mL of water), so it's possible you aren't using that, and the espresso has a better caffeinating effect for the same amount of caffeine. We can't know because the words and units are conflated in so many ways (there's a cup, which is a drinking vessel, there's the cooking cup which is like 230mL, and there's the coffee cup which is 148mL of water in to get 118mL of coffee out). I'm not a stickler for metric vs. imperial (I use both), but "cup" is a terrible terrible unit that needs to die. Use grams for anything coffee-related.

endisneigh 5y ago

Assuming this works, isn't this pretty much game over for dentists? I'm aware that dentists do more than fillings, but it seems like there would be a serious contraction, even if this costed something like $1000 a tooth after insurance. That being said, even if this worked, it's not like it's instant, so you still have to be careful with your teeth. I wonder how this differs from novamin, which supposedly does the same thing and you can already purchase now.

johnkpaul 5y ago
Hah I felt this same way when I discovered you can change your diet to basically completely remove all dental problems. I doubt society can possible change quickly enough for us to see the downfall of the profession.
- killermouse0 5y ago
  Would you care to elaborate on those diet changes?
  - wyager 5y ago
    Eliminate things bacteria can efficiently metabolize, consume things that humans can efficiently metabolize. Namely, eliminate saccharides (sugar, plant starches, etc.) and get your calories from fat instead. Improved dentition is only one of many benefits.
  - tom_mellior 5y ago
    "Diet = dental health" is bullshit. My partner was raised sugar-free and has horrible teeth with many cavities. So does their entire family. I was raised on a diet which included many forms of sweets, and I have never had a cavity. Same for my entire family. Genetics or other biological predisposition seems to be a major factor. Diet might help a bit, but don't expect any magical effects.
- joshuahughes 5y ago
  Presumably no sugar being the primary factor. No carbs too?

danschumann 5y ago

Will this help Mitch Hedberg enthusiasts realize his dream of having just two long curvy teeth?

Hamuko 5y ago

>In addition, the researchers are investigating a gel or solution with the engineered peptide to treat hypersensitive teeth. This problem results from weakness in the enamel that makes the underlying dentin and nerves more vulnerable to heat or cold. Most common products currently on the market can put a layer of organic material on the tooth and numb nerve endings with potassium nitrate, but the relief is only temporary. The peptide, however, addresses the problem permanently at its source by strengthening the enamel. I want this so badly. I've never had a cavity despite my poor dental hygiene habits and lack of dental practice visits but apparently I suffer from bruxism that can make half of my teeth hurt whenever I bite on anything harder than a wet noodle. Just now I brushed my teeth with a pain-numbing toothpaste and just the act of brushing my teeth made them hurt. Although sometimes I can go for some time without pain, it's been pretty much a constant in my life for the last years.

robocat 5y ago
For anybody that grinds their teeth, investigate getting a splint before you reach this stage. https://www.coredental.com.au/splints-dentist-recommend-one/ https://www.coredental.com.au/splints-dentist-recommend-one/
- djxfade 5y ago
  I struggle with this. However I don't know what to do. I couldn't wear a splint, because I have a very sensitive gag reflex. I can almost start vomiting just by brushing me teeths...
  - danielheath 5y ago
    Soft mouth guards as are used for contact sports? You dip them in hot water and then bite to form them, so they aren’t near your gag reflex.
    - djxfade 5y ago
      Yeah. I think the issue might be more a psychological one, I gag very easily

defaultname 5y ago

How does this compare with Sensodyne Repair and Protect? That product uses Novamin and effective rebuilds enamel, also offering whitening, reduced sensitivity, etc.

danielheath 5y ago
Repair is not rebuilding. “Repair” toothpaste chemically strengthens existing enamel.
- defaultname 5y ago
  Fluoride strengthens enamel. Novamin remineralizes enamel. It "rebuilds" it. How Sensodyne markets it is largely irrelevant. Indeed, this product targets sensitivity which is exactly what Novamin does (by remineralizing those tiny holes permanently, versus traditional sensitivity products that simply "clog" them temporarily). Note that Novamin-containing Sensodyne is an overseas thing that you have to import. For whatever reason they didn't seek FDA approval in the US so the product there is sans it.
pier25 5y ago
I've used Sensodyne for years for sensitivity issues. Last year, I tried a new version with whitening and after a couple of weeks my teeth started hurting all day long. It took me a couple of days until I made the connection. I stopped using that and went back to what is being sold (here in Mexico) as Sensodyne Original.
wodenokoto 5y ago
I asked my dentist about novamin after it trended on HN a few months ago. Apparently every toothpaste brand has a number of proprietary compounds that, according to their own research, is the biggest thing since flouride. Sensodyne has Novamin, I don't know the name of Colgates, but I am sure they list it on one of their websites. Why HN has taken to Novamin, I don't know. Maybe it is because it was taken off the American market? Anyway, it doesn't seem like Novamin makes a real difference: According to a 2020 literature review, > ... the objective of this review is to find out the current evidence available on the use of Novamin as an agent for remineralization. > ... and at 6 months’ time point the p-value is 0.81 concluding that there are no significant difference of remineralization process obtained by using traditional toothpaste and Novamin. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7068624/

ALittleLight 5y ago

The fact that they've already tested this on extracted human teeth seems promising (I assume it worked there). Hopeful this works! Great advance, if so.

benjaminwootton 5y ago

There really needs to be something like this. When we look back on dentistry in 50-100 years we will be amazed how barbaric it was! Ouch!

nemo44x 5y ago
I think about this fairly often. When getting a root canal (it doesn’t hurt!) it’s sort of odd to see in this day and age the tools they use.
- monoideism 5y ago
  > (it doesn’t hurt!) It doesn't hurt for you. Some people, including myself, have had root canals that have almost caused worse pain than when I was in the ICU.
  - Invictus0 5y ago
    That's the parent's point: the tools and methods have changed so that now it no longer hurts.
    - imglorp 5y ago
      Even now, sometimes it does hurt, plenty. Local anesthesia can be somehow negated by bacterial infection, something involving the pH getting altered. My endo apologized but had to keep drilling to reach relief.
      - dawnerd 5y ago
        I had to suffer through one as well. They have me the max number of shots after being on antibiotics and the pain was still unbelievable. Worst part… the dentist messed up and the whole root canal was for nothing.
    - monoideism 5y ago
      This was 5 years ago. We're all different. Some people respond poorly to root canals, some feel moderate pain, some feel absolutely no pain. And to be clear, the pain has been after my root canal, not during (even though ostensibly, the nerve is gone). My worst root canal was infected, but the endodontist claims that it usually doesn't cause that much pain (perhaps, but not for some people). My mother and uncle have had the same issues. My father has never had issues.

pier25 5y ago

I've always wondered how come there wasn't more effort put into something like this. It's a huge business opportunity. Everyone hates going to the dentist.

SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
Hair is a bigger market. Not in terms of people it affects, but what people will pay. But.... likewise, it amazes me we have a million and a half ways to grow hair on mice, but none on humans. Makes me think we need to relax human trials on volunteers (only half joking).
- eyelidlessness 5y ago
  It’s really astonishing how I know, intuitively, this is true but how weird people’s priorities are. Being honest: 1. I started balding at a relatively normal age (first signs late 20s). At first I welcomed it, then I got a little self conscious (and wished for greys instead, those are finally coming into my beard and I couldn’t be happier). 2. I’ve had dental health issues since childhood. My family couldn’t afford regular dental care and I’ve always worried about it. 3. My teeth have rapidly deteriorated in my late 30s. I can’t currently afford any dental care and I already know I’m looking at drastic solutions when I can. Having both a thin head of hair and a mouth full of trash, I know what I’d prioritize given the chance to magically turn back time time or scientifically reverse the worst of my biology. And it’s not my hair. Shaving/trimming/styling baldness is trivial. My mouth is an unavoidable turnoff, a constant terrible personal experience, and an ongoing health risk. It’s bonkers to me that there’s more money in solving hair than solving teeth, even though I know it’s true.
  - SV_BubbleTime 5y ago
    Contrasting points... You can close your mouth., but can’t stop someone from looking at your head. You can surgically replace all your teeth with perfect replicas and no one will be able to tell otherwise except in how perfect they are. The cost for this isn’t low, but nor is it unobtainable. I bet $10k in Eastern Europe gets you nice teeth for the rest of your life. There is just no great option for hair. Even with infinite money like Musk or Bezos, you have plugs or nothing. But... if this enamel deal helps you, I’m glad!

jcrben 5y ago

Weird teeth-cleaning trick that I discovered from suffering from interstitial cystitis / painful bladder syndrome (IC / BPS): toss a bit of baking soda in your water, such as 1 teaspoon per liter. It makes it alkaline. My teeth got whiter and felt better (less of a film feeling). Baking soda is used as a cooking ingredient and shouldn't be too risky, but don't go overboard... bit of discussion on the IC / BPS aspect in the two citations below (including risks): [Effects of urine alkalinization with sodium bicarbonate orally on lower urinary tract symptoms in female patients: a pilot study](https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00192-017-3492-3 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00192-017-3492-...) [Urine alkalization improves the problems of pain and sleep in hypersensitive bladder syndrome](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24224617 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24224617) UPDATE: Also check edathamil toothpaste as I mentioned in a below comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27329165 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27329165

xxpor 5y ago
Isn't baking soda a fairly common ingredient in toothpaste? (See arm and hammer brand toothpaste)
- jcrben 5y ago
  Yep. Altho I've been using LivFresh which contains edathamil [1] and has no baking soda. The benefit of it being in your water is that you get that constant little flush of it [1] [Effects of a Novel Dental Gel on Plaque and Gingivitis: A Comparative Study](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d87n65m https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2d87n65m)
- caturopath 5y ago
  Yes, very much so -- "natural" types have been known to recommend just using baking soda instead of toothpaste. FWIW, brushing is the more important part (even without paste it probably does most of the good), but modern toothpastes are better than baking soda because they are more abrasive and because they contain fluoride. Baking soda's main utility for toothbrushing is its abrasiveness, but it's a little too soft to be optimal. To get the most out of your toothpaste's fluoride, spit out your toothpaste and do not immediately rinse. You don't want to swallow large amounts of toothpaste, of course, but the film does more good than harm -- https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-keep-your-teeth-clean/ https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-body/how-to-keep-your-t... "Don't rinse your mouth immediately after brushing, as it'll wash away the concentrated fluoride in the remaining toothpaste."

rocky1138 5y ago

If we chew on enough of these lozenges, will our teeth merge into one, curved megatooth?

OJFord 5y ago
And why haven't we evolved to have that yet anyway? It's surely better, nowhere for food to get stuck? (Assuming it can still be molar/canine/incisor like in different places on that plane.)
- eyelidlessness 5y ago
  We haven’t even evolved to have a single set of teeth. We’re born with stand ins that grow out and push “baby” teeth out. They’re pretty much set up to be disposable, we just haven’t evolved a good replacement pipeline.
- webmaven 5y ago
  > And why haven't we evolved to have that yet anyway? It's surely better, nowhere for food to get, stuck? (Assuming it can still be molar/canine/incisor like in different places on that plane.) Well, in software terms, you're describing a monolithic architecture. A single cavity would destroy the whole thing. You'd probably have to replace the choppers more frequently as your skull grows into adulthood, or we would have to be born with larger jaws that don't need to grow as much as we mature. There is also the matter of how evolvable the platform would be. As a species, we're in the process of losing our wisdom teeth, and I suspect that would be harder to do if the skull/jaw/gum/tooth platform was... more tightly coupled, less modular. I myself never had any wisdom teeth, and kept a couple of my milk teeth into my 40s before one had to be replaced with a crown, and the other just fell out when the root dissolved. Human dentition has a lot of variability. Still, birds did it (as have other species over the Earth's long evolutionary history), so it isn't an insoluble challenge, but it would be a rather more radical change than just fusing teeth together.
- riffraff 5y ago
  my understanding is that we're basically not supposed to live long enough to care, evolution didn't have time to overcorrect for abundance of sugar and people living into old age.

sarak12070 5y ago

Best way to remove baby hair from your head http://healthwithbeauty.xyz/2021/05/29/how-to-remove-baby-hair-from-head/ http://healthwithbeauty.xyz/2021/05/29/how-to-remove-baby-ha... coconut milk for hair straightening http://healthwithbeauty.xyz/2021/05/29/coconut-milk-for-hair-straightening/ http://healthwithbeauty.xyz/2021/05/29/coconut-milk-for-hair... Website offering duo $2,000 to play video games for 21 hours https://www.interestingnews.club/2021/05/website-offering-duo-2000-to-play-video.html https://www.interestingnews.club/2021/05/website-offering-du...

nikolay 5y ago

A whole dental line has been available in Germany for years - Apacare [0]. [0]: https://www.apacare.com/ https://www.apacare.com/

nikolay 5y ago
I just found they have a gum solution as well - GengiGel [0]. [0]: https://www.gengigel.de/ https://www.gengigel.de/
- Giorgi 5y ago
  Nope, completely different thing: Xylitol, Gum Base, Calcium Phosphate, Acacia Gum, Glycerin, Aroma, CI 77891, Lecitin of Soya, Glycyrrhiza Glabra Extract, Cera Carnauba.
  - nikolay 5y ago
    This is a different product - as I clarified, it claiming benefits for gums' health due to its hyaluronate contents.
NaN1352 5y ago
> Brush your teeth for 3 minutes in the morning and in the evening. (apacare site) When do you do it though? Doesn’t it undermine the brushing if you eat or drink coffee within an hour afterwards? Or does it not matter and you brush first thing in the morning?
Etheryte 5y ago
The results for hydroxyapatite seem to be mixed, some studies have found it has no statistically significant benefit over fluoride toothpaste [0], while others have found some benefit [1][2]. Interesting none the less, thanks for linking to it. [0] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41405-019-0026-8 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41405-019-0026-8 [1] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25019114/ https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25019114/ [2] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5121804/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5121804/

Waterluvian 5y ago

Call me paranoid but I'm curious what % of the industry exists because of cavities? How much of a typical dentist office's time is spent repairing cavities? I'm not suggesting some conspiracy. Just that market motivations might be misaligned.

artificial 5y ago
Interesting point. Wouldn’t that raise something deeper about sugar vs fat consumption?

fmsf 5y ago

This sounds very similar to the toothpaste and dental products with polypeptides that these guys do https://www.credentis.com/en/publications/ https://www.credentis.com/en/publications/ (edit: replace link of products with publications)

Giorgi 5y ago
Nope, that would be same old Xylitol

batter 5y ago

Believe me or not but if you have tooth sensitivity i would check sodium balance. Especially if you urinate frequently. This can ruin your teeth for long time. Yoga wheel for upper back can help.

zaphod4prez 5y ago
Can you talk more about this? How do you check your sodium balance? I'm intrigued (and have tooth sensitivity). Thank you!
- batter 5y ago
  I'm not sure what's happening. Couldn't find any related studies. But i have seen in couple friends already if you have teeth sensitivity and teeth that go bad frequently you might have problem with upper back. This leads to too much urination. Especially if you don't drink a lot. Kidneys need sodium for functioning. I can only speculate that kidneys for some reason are forced to lose sodium with urine and as result you'll have tooth sensitivity or even heart problems. My observation showed that upper back backward bend helps to eliminate that. And this might be the result of bad posture. But definitely i don't have good understanding what's happening, because I'm not a doc. Just try to bend like for gymnastics bridge (yoga wheel can help or sturdy park bench) and see yourself. It will take just couple days to show results,
refurb 5y ago
Your body maintains your sodium levels in a very tight band. Why? Your nerves won’t function otherwise. If it gets outside that range you typically die. So I’ll have to say I’m highly skeptical about “checking your sodium balance”.
- batter 5y ago
  From this study: https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/good-heart-keep-holding-salt-201607119952 https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/good-heart-keep-holding-... we can see that low sodium impacts heart desease, even though your body controls it in tight range. I do agree that most probably your sodium level in blood will be in tight range. But I'm other places like saliva it could be deficient. Saliva PH strips would be a good start

0xbadcafebee 5y ago

When the orthodontist finally removed my braces as a kid, it also removed most of the enamel from the front of my teeth. I wish I had been told that and given a choice, because I'd honestly prefer strong, healthy, white, crooked teeth, to stained weak cavity-filled straight ones. (And the bottom row grew crooked anyway)

qwerty456127 5y ago

Through the decades, many have claimed they solved the tooth decay problem. Nobody ever shipped a product, let alone a working one. This is the next one in the series so long I feel extremely skeptical. Even if it actually works it will probably cost some crazy money (part of which will hopefully go to a fund to support millions of jobless dentists /s). Nevertheless I'm glad this popped up here anyway.

totalZero 5y ago
This isn't so much a prevention of tooth decay as it is a contribution to the hydroxyapatite crystal structure in a non-regenerable part of your tooth.
- qwerty456127 5y ago
  Could you please explain? What is a non-regenerable part of a tooth and what is a regenerable part of it? Why repairing its crystal structure is not a prevention of its decay?
  - s0rce 5y ago
    The outer hard enamel layer of your teeth is acellular and cannot regenerate after it forms. Its been a while since I worked in this field (my PhD) but the inner dentin has some ability to regenerate due to the adjacent cells in the pulp. I'm not really sure I understand what the previous comment is saying about the crystal structure. All of the tooth (enamel and dentin) and bone mineral related carbonate "hydroxyl" apatite is crystalline with some additional amorphous material in between.

echelon 5y ago

I'm anxious that this could cause cancer or long term disease states as it works its way through your digestion system. This is a wildly novel approach being applied orally. I'd love for this to work, but they're relying on the fact this doesn't interact with other bodily tissues.

qPM9l3XJrF 5y ago

How about rebuilding the bone the tooth grows out of? My dentist says that my teeth look great, but the x-ray of my alveolar bones that support those teeth look like that of someone 10 years older than me.

chimen 5y ago
That would basically cure periodontal disease which would be huge. I don't think so, not this decade at least :)

Juntu 5y ago

The amalgum and bubble gum cures anything for jaws and tooth aches in time the mouth lips teeth and gums become worsen when the tribulation of aged teeth’s become in sense of whos teeth do i have enamel holds the tooth when in a fight our brain lets go of stiffness of the body that which cared can let us know that’s too danger for trials to begin. Upvote

xivzgrev 5y ago

This is cool but I really want something that can regrow my gums. I’ve had some recession and I have sensitivity to cold liquids. The dentists say the only option is surgery

etxm 5y ago
Same. I’ve had two grafts in the same area (cadaver and auto) and neither of them held. What drives me wild is I floss twice a day, brush three times a day with the daintiest grip you’ve ever seen. Every time I go to the dentist, recession. Meanwhile my spouse brushes once a day, maybe flosses occasionally and has never had recession or a cavity.
- SoylentYellow 5y ago
  I'm about to get a donor graft soon. Why didn't your's work out?
  - etxm 5y ago
    Not exactly sure. My current dentist said it’s rare for an autograft not to take, but it didn’t. He said my surgeon must have sucked.

jb775 5y ago

> The idea for the lozenge design originated with Deniz Yucesoy, a graduate student in the UW’s Genetically Engineered Materials Science and Engineering Center who received a $100,000 Amazon Catalyst grant This grad-student/researcher just handed over a multi-million dollar business to Amazon in exchange for $100k towards the research. Why on Earth would anyone sign over 100% ownership of their idea, just to be able to test their idea? I guess he thought it would look good on his resume as begs a company for a job after graduation? Who owns the IP if I join Amazon Catalyst?[1] Amazon Catalyst is a place to see your idea come to fruition without the risk of starting a company on your own. As such, the IP that is developed in Amazon Catalyst is property of Amazon.[1] [1] https://catalyst.amazon.com/ https://catalyst.amazon.com/

foolfoolz 5y ago
what if there’s more to an idea than how much money you personally can extract from it?
- genericone 5y ago
  Theres more to an idea than how much a billionaire can trick you to part with it too though.
- jb775 5y ago
  Yeah, how altruistic of him to hand the idea over to a group of bloodsucking capitalists that'll use it to extract as much profit from the world as possible.
genericone 5y ago
That doesnt appear to be a grant at all then! Are government or nonprofit grants ever attached to IP ownership terms?
- cossatot 5y ago
  Usually the IP goes to the employer (i.e. the university) rather than the individual researcher.

nibsfive 5y ago

Also: try nanohydroxyapetate.

swader999 5y ago

What if this works too well? Everyone is going to look like a beaver.

williesleg 5y ago

4 out of 5 dentists surveyed will stop this.

The_rationalist 5y ago

Peptide medecine (heavily researched in Russia) has a magical potential. Through epigenetic changes it can alter almost anything: Anti Ageing Changing your skin color Atypical stimulant: semax Atypical anxiolitic:selank Physical performance/recovery Eye health Etc... There even is a peptide covid vaccine Discover more at r/peptides

JWoolfenden 5y ago

This hasn't even started trials, so its as good as my cousin freds snakeoil potice.

docflabby 5y ago

I found sensodyn repair and protect less effective than regenerate nr5? Anyone else used this product? https://www.regeneratenr5.co.uk/products/advanced-toothpaste https://www.regeneratenr5.co.uk/products/advanced-toothpaste

donogh 5y ago
I’m using repair and protect, and I have no idea whether it’s doing anything. Experienced a much greater impact by cutting out most added sugar from my diet (including in coffee). On Regenerate NR5, there seems to be skepticism on Reddit. This analysis looks solid: https://www.reddit.com/r/Dentistry/comments/2afh74/has_anyone_heard_about_regenerate_and_their_nr5/ https://www.reddit.com/r/Dentistry/comments/2afh74/has_anyon... It suggests they’re using fairly standard ingredients that are present in many toothpastes. Caveat emptor..
- dEnigma 5y ago
  Hopefully not cavity emptor

deleted 5y ago

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Giorgi 5y ago

If there is even small amount of truth in this, it is going to revolutionize dentist industry. In fact make it obsolete leaving only surgeries.

runawaybottle 5y ago

Chris Rock had a good story about when he got rich enough he just got brand new teeth. It’s something I’ve thought about. If you get to a decent enough income level, why not just pay the price? One medical tourism visit to Costa Rica, and voila, problem solved.

cenkozan 5y ago

Highly out of context, but, another Turkish researcher outside Turkey, probably escaping Islamist government that's effing up Turkey, and coming up with ground breaking innovations. A a Turk, don't know if I should be thankful or mad as hell.

Sunspark 5y ago
You can be both. You can be thankful that opportunities exist for them to practice their craft and bring things into the world to make it better. You can also be mad that they couldn't do it at home because of the regime which really does do ridiculous things like set monetary interest rates ignoring that it's still connected to the international financial system.

NoblePublius 5y ago

Dentists will hate this and, if it works, conspire to destroy it. Dentists operate a mostly cash business dependent on disease care. The less you care for your teeth, the more money they make. The more procedures they perform, the more money they make. Good luck.

throwcoke 5y ago

I've been drinking diet coke all day (about 3 liters/day) for many years, which causes my teeth to be less than white and also rather sensitive. Besides the coloring, I suspect that the enamel is being thinned down by the citric/phosphoric acid. I have no chronic pain, but the cosmetic aspect and the sensitivity bothers me. TFA sounds like that treatment could help. Any other recommendations for my situation? I can't brush agressively due to receding gums. I use a chlorhexidine solution regularly, which helps preventing inflammation/aphthae in the mouth, which I used to have quite often prior to discovering CHX. And no, dialing down the diet coke is unfortunately not possible for me. ;)

sabco 5y ago
Why is reducing the diet coke not possible for you? I don't mean to ask this as a snide remark, I'm just curious.
- throwcoke 5y ago
  It's a strong addiction. I'm a device for turning diet code into working software ;) [1]. I need the caffeine kick. I don't particularly like to drink tea or coffee (which wouldn't help with the teeth coloring anyway). And I like the taste of diet coke (or coke zero) a lot. I tried switching to water multiple times, but was unable to sustain it. I wish Coca-Cola would produce a colorless variant (like Pepsi once did), which would at least improve the whiteness. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfr%C3%A9d_R%C3%A9nyi#Quotations https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfr%C3%A9d_R%C3%A9nyi#Quotati...
briane80 5y ago
"I've never seen a thin person drinking diet coke"
khalilravanna 5y ago
What about switching to seltzer you can mix with caffeine powder? If you look you should be able to find a “cola” flavored one which while not the same should at least be an approximation. From some quick googling it appears seltzer still has carbonic acid which ain’t great for your teeth but it’s not as bad as regular soda’s acid-combo [1]. [1] https://espiredental.com/is-seltzer-really-bad-for-your-teeth/ https://espiredental.com/is-seltzer-really-bad-for-your-teet...

alexander_gold 5y ago

https://superflyjetskis.shop https://superflyjetskis.shop

beefman 5y ago

This is now my highest-scoring post (since my first post in 2011), surpassing this one from 2017 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14446261 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14446261

jokethrowaway 5y ago

This sounds great but I wonder when we'll see something in production. I'm still waiting for Ocumetics to deliver on their bionic eyes promises or risug to deliver on reversible semi permanent male contraceptives.

andy_ppp 5y ago

Sounds great, however I hope someone checks this doesn’t end up fixing teeth and causing problems with gut health. It’s probably fine though, I guess we ingest random peptides all the while...

dkdk8283 5y ago

Can I buy this? I want it, and I’m happy with no guarantees.