Dental Fillings That Kill Bacteria and Re-Mineralize the Tooth

From the 26 April Science Daily article

ScienceDaily (May 1, 2012) — Scientists using nanotechology at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry have created the first cavity-filling composite that kills harmful bacteria and regenerates tooth structure lost to bacterial decay.

Rather than just limiting decay with conventional fillings, the new composite is a revolutionary dental weapon to control harmful bacteria, which co-exist in the natural colony of microorganisms in the mouth, says professor Huakun (Hockin) Xu, PhD, MS.

“Tooth decay means that the mineral content in the tooth has been dissolved by the organic acids secreted by bacteria residing in biofilms or plaques on the tooth surface. These organisms convert carbohydrates to acids that decrease the minerals in the tooth structure,” says Xu, director of the Division of Biomaterials and Tissue Engineering in the School’s Department of Endodontics, Prosthodontics and Operative Dentistry…..

Where do our wasted health dollars go to?

From the 29 April 2012 article at Kevin MD.com

…

The biggest problem with health care delivery in the US is cost, which seems to have taken a back seat to other issues meant to be addressed by health care reform. We spend about $2.5 trillion dollarsa year on health care—that’s over eight thousand dollars a year for every man, woman, and child. What’s that getting you?

According to the government, about 30% goes to hospitals; 20% goes to doctors and other clinicians, 10% goes for prescriptions, and the other 40% or so goes for “other spending,” mostly administrative costs and haircuts for insurance executives. But it’s probably even worse than that: according to arecent JAMA study, about 20% of total healthcare expenditures are wasted dollars.

20% of 2.5 trillion dollars, by the way, is 500 billion dollars. Each year. The JAMA article breaks down the waste into several categories:..

Read the article here for the category breakdown

 

 

Related Resources

• Choose Wisely Campaign
  Nine United States specialty societies representing 374,000 physicians developed lists of Five Things Physicians and Patients Should Question in recognition of the importance of physician and patient conversations to improve care and eliminate unnecessary tests and procedures.

  These lists represent specific, evidence-based recommendations physicians and patients should discuss to help make wise decisions about the most appropriate care based on their individual situation. Each list provides information on when tests and procedures may be appropriate, as well as the methodology used in its creation.

  Read the lists:

  • American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology
  • American Academy of Family Physicians
  • American College of Cardiology
  • American College of Physicians
  • American College of Radiology
  • American Gastroenterological Association
  • American Society of Clinical Oncology
  • American Society of Nephrology
  • American Society of Nuclear Cardiology

  Download all of the lists

  For patients, Consumer Reports and the medical societies developed summaries of the lists including:

  • When do you need an EKG or stress test for heart disease? (American Academy of Family Physicians)
  • When do you need an imaging test for a headache? (American College of Radiology)
  • When do you need antibiotics for sinusitis? (American Academy of Asthma, Allergy and Immunology)
  • When do you need antibiotics for sinusitis? (American Academy of Family Physicians)

Related articles

• Why academic medical centers need a stress test(kevinmd.com)

A group of nine medical specialty societies recently announced the “Choose Wisely” campaign, targeting 45 commonly performed medical procedures and tests that offer little or no value in improving health. These interventions waste precious health care resources, lead to erroneous conclusions and/or false security, spur unwarranted additional interventions, and cause patient harm. Among the appropriately indicted procedures was cardiac stress testing of asymptomatic, low-risk patients. There is an old adage among savvy clinicians: “It is difficult to make an asymptomatic person feel better.” Attempting to do so can cause more harm than good.

• 5 Things Doctors And Patients Should Question (boston.cbslocal.com)
• Six Common Medical Procedures You Probably Don’t Need (businessinsider.com)
• Medical societies list unneeded tests to reduce healthcare costs (medcitynews.com)
• Physician Groups Call for Fewer Medical Tests (cherished79.wordpress.com)
• Physician Groups Call for Fewer Medical Tests (news.health.com)
• U.S. doctors advised to reduce routine tests, treatments (ctv.ca)
• Which Medical Tests Are Really Needed? (connecticut.cbslocal.com)
• Choosing Wisely, Continued… (rjwh617dotcom.wordpress.com)
• US doctors urge fewer tests‚ less costly treatments (thehimalayantimes.com)
• Doctor Panels recommend fewer tests for Patients (maryannebachia.wordpress.com)