News

National Smile Month to launch in parliament

Organised by the British Dental Health Foundation, this year's National Smile Month tagline of Teeth4Life aims to highlight the importance of looking after your teeth and maintaining them for life.
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Massive leap in adult dental brace desire

The number of adult braces has shot up dramatically in the last four years as more and more people become obsessed with having the perfect smile.
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Anxiety causes poor oral health...

Scientists are suggesting that people with bad oral health are increasingly likely to have anxious personalities. Researchers from the University of Otago, New Zealand, studied more than 1,000 participants between the ages of 15 and 32 and discovered around a quarter of them had dental anxiety.
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Poor dental health can affect brain say experts

Researchers have discovered that gum disease can affect the brain in elderly patients.This can happen by causing inflammation throughout the body, a risk factor for loss of mental function...
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Refer a friend: earn £25 in Marks and Spencer's vouchers!

Refer your friends and family and receive £25 of Marks & Spencer's vouchers!
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The Blog

Where do bugs go when they die?

New infection control guidelines and our new decontamination room!
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Why I like white fillings.....

..actually they are not white. They are tooth coloured fillings because teeth are not white - anything but white. A pure white filling would stand out like a sore thumb if the tooth itself is not pure white, and so for this reason a properly placed filling should be invisible and not draw attention to itself. The correct name for them is 'composite restorations' and 'glass ionomer restorations'. At Haynesdental we only place white fillings.
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Make me a mouthguard - update

Wigan's Australian three-quarter Jamie Ainscough had to miss his side's 40-18 win at Warrington last night - after having a tooth pulled from his arm.
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Gene could allow teeth to be grown in a lab

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Scientists believe they have found a way to grow teeth in the laboratory, a discovery that could put an end to fillings and dentures.

The US team from Oregon have located the gene responsible for the growth of enamel, the hard outer layer of teeth which cannot grow back naturally. Other scientists are already growing the inner parts of teeth in animals - but they have no hard enamel coatings. The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences work may plug this gap.

Experiments in mice have shown that the gene, a "transcription factor" called Ctip2, has several functions involving immune responses and the development of skin and nerves. The work at Oregon State University made the link with enamel by studying mice bred to lack Ctip2.

Lead researcher Dr Chrissa Kioussi said: "It's not unusual for a gene to have multiple functions, but before this we didn't know what regulated the production of tooth enamel."

The scientists found that Ctip2 was crucial for the enamel-producing cells, called ameloblasts, to form and work properly.

Dr Kioussi said: "This is the first transcription factor ever found to control the formation and maturation of ameloblasts, which are the cells that secrete enamel."

Controlling the gene in conjunction with stem-cell technology could make the artificial creation of functional teeth a real possibility.

Alternatively, the knowledge could be used to strengthen existing enamel and repair damaged enamel, cutting decay and the need for fillings.

Dr Kioussi said: "A lot of work would still be needed to bring this to human applications, but it should work. It could be really cool, a whole new approach to dental health."

Paul Sharpe, an expert on tooth development at the Dental Institute at King's College London, said: "If you could find some way of growing ameloblasts that make enamel, you could find a way to repair teeth.

"Any gene like this is worth understanding. The more we learn about it the more we can use the information to make biological models of tooth repair." BBC News 24th Feb 2009

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