Does it end where it began? In the mouth? maybe. Let's talk tooth decay. Tooth decay is caused by the acidic excretions of a bacteria called "Streptococcus mutans". It eats sugars in your mouth and excretes acids that slowly dissolve the protective layers of tooth, ultimately causing cavities and dental disease. Yuck...but so what?
Well, a Florida Company, Oragenics (http://oragenics.com/product_replacement.php) has been working on solving that little problem for the last 20 years, and apparently has achieved success. What did they do? Well, in short they have created a new strain of the Streptococcus mutans bacteria with some interesting properties. The properties are thus:
1. It no longer excretes acids that harm your teeth.
2. instead it excretes material that kills off the original version of the bacteria.
So, by placing this new bacteria into your mouth, it will within short order kill off all the old destructive bacteria. Guess what that does? No more cavities...at all...ever. Gum disease also practically wiped out.
I would think this would mean quite a blow to most dentists, and if you never got cavities or gum disease, do you really need regular checkups? Dentistry becomes mostly elective procedures, and ortho.
Think for a moment what that would do to the Dental Insurance industry. It would certainly change the face of the industry if not wipe it out altogether.
So..is this just science fiction many years off? Well, no. In fact human trials are underway, animal trials were completed with amazing success.
Whats a person to do? Sit back and buy their stock I guess.....
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2 comments:
Greetings from Cerritos, Michael!
First off, as one who stands to lose my job if the dental insurance industry takes a nose-dive, I say, "Bring it on!"
Newer, better technology has almost always put SOMEBODY out of a job while (hopefully) making life better for the majority.
The advent of automobiles put the horse-and-buggy industry out of business, etc.
Fortunately, I have a skill (programming) that transcends any "industry".
I'll miss walking to work every day, but the promise of never having another cavity, crown, or root-canal FAR outweighs my personal comfort.
Fortunately or unfortunately (depending on how you look at it), I believe this new technology is realistically at least a decade away from mainstream acceptance.
Of course, there's always the (relatively high) probability that it causes some (as yet unknown) side effect.
It's probably not worth it if it causes you to (for example) spontaneously burst into flames after a few years of use. :-) :-)
-- Dave
Hey Mike (and Dave!)
I'm not sure how the Dental industry got as big as it is anyway. I'll only visit a dentist if I have a problem. Pooey!
No surprise to me, but you've put together an interesting blog!
Robert
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