Early Humans Had 'Jaws of Steel'
from World Science
Your mother always told you not to use your teeth as tools to open something hard, and she was right. Human skulls have small faces and teeth and are not well-equipped to bite down forcefully on hard objects. Not so of our earliest ancestors, say scientists. Research published in the research journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences points to nut-cracking abilities in our 2.5-million-year-old relatives. More

Colorado Dentists Bank Stem Cells in Teeth
from The Denver Post
Think of them as real-life tooth fairies. Just a few years after the explosion of research into dental stem cells, companies that will bank the cells for future, potentially life-saving therapies are gaining ground across the country. About 10 dentists in Colorado, as well as several parents, are collecting baby and wisdom teeth in kits and shipping them to labs for cold storage. The companies charge a collection fee of about $600, plus $89 to $100 each year to keep the cells in vaporized liquid nitrogen, chilled to about 300 degrees below zero. More

Safety Guide Launched for New 3-D Dental Scans
from Science Daily
Important new guidelines for dentists using the latest three-dimensional imaging system in their surgeries have been established for UK and European practitioners. Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT), which gives a similar kind of image as a medical CT scan, is now available in high-street dental practices to give high-definition, three-dimensional scans of patients’ jaws and teeth. More

Scientists Report Gene Network in Early Tooth Development
from the National Institutes of Health
Darwin had his finches, Morgan had his fruit flies, and scientists today have cichlid fishes to trace the biological origins of jaws and teeth. In this week’s issue of the journal PLoS Biology, researchers supported by the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research, part of the National Institutes of Health, report they have deduced a network of dental genes in cichlids that likely was present to build the first tooth some half a billion years ago. The researchers say their finding lays out a core evolutionary list of molecules needed to make a tooth. More

Can Dental Bacteria Cause Heart Attacks?
from BioMed Publishing Group
In today’s cosmopolitan urban population, more than 51 percent of those with root canal-treated teeth probably have infection at the apex of their root. This figure represents millions of possible locations of dental infection. Any source of bacteria with resulting chronic infection (including periodontal disease) in the mouth may potentially lead to heart disease and other systemic diseases. Dr. William D. Nordquist, takes you on the journey of decades of study which has lead to one of the biggest medical breakthroughs in his new book The Stealth Killer: Is Oral Spirochetosis the Missing Link in the Dental and Heart Disease Labyrinth? More

New Screening Test Can Determine Whether Children Have Swallowing Disorder
from Science Daily
A simple test to swallow three ounces of water can help determine whether a child has the swallowing disorder oropharyngeal dysphagia, establishing for the first time a way to screen for the ailment in children, according to new research. Oropharyngeal dysphagia is a swallowing disorder caused by abnormalities of muscles, nerves, or structures of the oral cavity, pharynx, and upper esophageal sphincter. More

One in Three Smokers Would Kick Habit to Protect Pet
from CNN
Pet owners will often go to any length to protect the health of their furry and feathered friends. Now a new survey suggests that one in three smokers would consider kicking the habit after learning that smoking poses a danger to pets. Secondhand smoke causes almost 50,000 deaths in adult nonsmokers in the United States each year, and there's a mountain of evidence that secondhand smoke can affect a pet's health as well. More

Esophageal Cancer Linked to Osteoporosis Drug Use
from ORTHO SuperSite
The popular osteoporosis drug Fosamax (alendronate sodium, Merck) and other similar drugs may carry a risk for esophageal cancer, a Food and Drug Administration official reported. A letter in the New England Journal of Medicine, says that since the initial marketing of Fosamax in 1995, the FDA has received 23 reports of patients who developed esophageal tumors after taking the drug. More

President Signs Bill Expanding Dental Care Coverage in Health Insurance Program for Low-Income Children
from MSNBC
Dental care for children emerged as a key priority for this country as the President signed legislation for the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Reauthorization. This legislation is the second bill that the President has signed into law, and has received overwhelming support in Congress. The Children's Dental Project applauds President Obama and this Congress for moving quickly and demonstrating that children's access to proper dental care is a major priority. More

Dentists say Fewer People are Seeking Dental Treatment During Recession
from Dental Office Magazine
With more families losing dental insurance or facing difficult choices about which costs are essential or expendable, dentists are reporting a sharp downturn in dental care as people decide to put off regular or even emergency visits. The economic crisis is also exacerbating an already worrisome imbalance between the number of Illinois residents with public insurance or no dental coverage and the dwindling number of dental clinics willing or able to treat those people, dental health advocates said. More