It has struck fear into generations of dental patients but the whine of the high-speed drill may be about to fall silent, thanks to a new technique, as our Science Correspondent Tom Clarke reports.
It has struck fear into generations of dental patients but the whine of the high-speed drill may be about to fall silent. Scientists at the University of Leeds claim they have discovered a pain-free treatment that allows decayed teeth to repair themselves naturally. The breakthrough would mean the end of the filling and, more importantly, drilling.
The team - a collaboration between dentists, chemists and bio-chemists - has produced a compound that temporarily fills small cavities and allows the tooth's enamel to re-grow. "This may sound too good to be true, but we are essentially helping acid-damaged teeth to regenerate themselves. It is a totally natural non-surgical repair process and is entirely pain-free too," said Professor Jennifer Kirkham, from the University of Leeds Dental Institute, who led the research team. Tooth decay happens when the acid environment of the mouth dissolves away the hard calcium-based enamel covering our teeth.Enamel has no blood supply or other means of repair so tiny pores formed in enamel by early decay can quickly turn into cavities.