Thousand Year Old Mouth Bacteria Found

Researchers from the University of Oklahoma and an international team discovered a 1,000 year old mouth

1000 year old Mouth Bacteria Found That Causes Gum Disease in Tartar

bacteria preserved in dental plaque.  The find  proved  inflammatory disease causing bacteria existed in a Medieval population from 1,000 years ago.  It is the same bacteria found in 13 percent of the population today.

Christina Warinner, a researcher in the Molecular Anthropologies Laboratory, OU College of Arts and Sciences and an international team of experts extracted DNA to analyze proteins on a molecular scale.  They were able to reconstruct the infection and the immune process.  The find gives insight and valuable information between people and their disease causing microbiome.

The research was initially considered high risk, as no one knew if something harmful was preserved in the calculus.

The dental plaque was harmful to the health of people 1,000 years ago, just as it causes periodontal disease; gum disease today.

Depression and Anxiety Lead to Tooth Loss

People that are depressed or suffer anxiety are more likely to lose a tooth than others.

A recent study from the International & American Associations for Dental Research found depression and anxiety were linked with tooth loss. Participants over 19 years of age were used in a complex telephone survey by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and state health departments called the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) where complete data on depression, anxiety and tooth loss was gathered.

The study concluded that there was a link between those that suffer depression and anxiety with tooth loss. Individuals with anxiety may avoid professional dental care, and those suffering depression neglect to perform home care.  Since cavities and gum disease occur from complex and chronic conditions, neglect and avoidance over time will result in tooth loss.

If tooth loss does occur, there are ways to restore your smile with procedures such as dental implants, dental bridges, dental partials. If you find yourself in need of an emergency dentist for a dental extraction, root canal or emergency dental visit +Verde Pointe Dental Associates can help.  We at +Verde Pointe Dental Associates, Dr.+Suzanna Aguilera and Dr. +Kirk Kimmerling DDS will offer options and associated fees when tooth loss occurs.

Hops From Beer May fight Cavities and Gum Disease

Hops from beer has just given beer enthusiasts something to talk about.  Most know that hops is what

Part of the Hops discarded in making beer may help prevent tooth decay and gum disease

gives beer its delicious bitter flavor.  Researchers have found a substance in the in the discarded part of hops that contains healthful antioxidants that may be able to battle tooth decay and gum disease. 

A specific laboratory technique known as chromatography identified new and already known compounds in hops.  Yoshihisa Tanaka and colleagues found the antioxidant polyphenols in the leaf extracts.  This extract stopped the bacteria responsible for disease from sticking to surfaces, and prevented the release of some of the bacteria's toxins. 

Since the leaves are not used to make beer, there is a large potential to repurpose it for dental applications.  +Verde Pointe Dental Associates, +Kirk Kimmerling DDS  and +Suzanna Aguilera welcome discussions concerning dentistry and dental applications.

The study was published in the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2014, Comprehensive Separation and Structural Analyses of Polyphenols and Related Compounds from Bracts of Hops (Humulus IupulusL.) Yoshihisa Tanaka, Akio Yanagida, Satoshi Komeya, Miho Kawana, Daiki Honma, Motoyuki Tagashira, Tomomasa Kanda, Yoichi Shibusawa.

First Ever Spay and Neuter St. Patti's Event at a Dental Office

Call us crazy, and that's ok, because, here at +Verde Pointe Dental Associates we are hosting our first

"Gone to the Dogs" event this St. Patrick's Day 2014.  Our dental office is full of shelter pet enthusiasts. That's why we're dressing up in green and giving out St. Patti cookies in lieu of a spay and neuter donation for the Tigg Neuter Project!

The office in conjunction with +Marietta Vet Clinic and veterinarian +Julian Peckich DVM will be collecting monies to help shelter dogs and cats get spay and neutered.

"It's always a pleasure to help needy pets in the community," say Julian Peckich DVM.  "It's great to work with such a caring veterinarian office," says Kirk Kimmerling.

For more information on the upcoming event;

http://mariettavetclinic.blogspot.com/2014/03/st-pattis-2014-event-to-help-tigg.html

Monkey Gets Root Canal byTwo Veterinarians and Dentist

A collaboration between a dentist and two veterinarians have made life a whole lot happier for one Allen root canal specialist , Kimberly Lindquist came together to perform a root canal on Noqui, an Allen swamp monkey with a toothache.

Allen Swamp Monkey Gets Root Canal

swamp monkey at Lake Superior Zoo in Duluth, MN.  Veterinarian, Louise Beyea, veterinarian Michael Overend and human

 The zoo noticed a lesion on Noqui's face and determined the necessary treatment would be a root canal, just like humans get.

However, the dental procedure posed interesting challenges to the team.  Noqui's root length was extremely long compared to a human tooth, so human instruments were impossible to use.  Specialized tools needed to be located.

The palate of an Allen swamp monkey is very thin and shallow, and the accompanying narrow jaw made the root canal difficult, yet not impossible.  All in all, the procedure went well and was considered a success.  Noqui now lives pain free and able to get back to enjoying the things monkeys enjoy without chronic pain.

A Teenager Poised to Change the Future of Dentistry

Tooth decay has been around since prehistoric man.  In years past, the only alternative was to pull a decayed tooth.  Then came the onset of dental fillings and root canals, crowns, veneers and dental implants to restore the mouth.  These procedures among others have given dentists the ability to make a mouth whole.  Now, it looks like a high school student has been named a semifinalist in the 2014 Intel Science Talent Search,a prestigious pre-college science competition, and it's all about teeth.

Laura Fulton,18 is has a promising patent on tooth enamel that she has researched for two years as a student at the prestigious University of Pennsylvania School of Dental Medicine. This is where she tested her synthetic tooth enamel and the adherence to damaged teeth.  It's been proven safe, biocompatible and having the structure of natural teeth.  It's safer than amalgam filling and does not leach the dreaded (BPA Bisphenol A).

Currently, gold, silver, mercury, plastics or and amalgam are used to restore teeth. The new synthetic enamel could change it all.

+Kirk Kimmerling DDS and +Suzanna Aguilera from +Verde Pointe Dental Associates will enthusiastically be waiting the arrival of the new tooth enamel.

Who Invented Serration as in Serrated Steak Knife?

If you think you know who invented serration as in the steak knife, you must have been around 298 millions

Serration and the Dimetrodon

years ago to meet a Dimetrodon.  Paleontologist suggest this prehistoric reptile predator developed serrated teeth to eat large pray.  Joseph Burns from Syracuse, New York is credited with adding already developed serration to knives in 1919. The Dimetrodon's teeth, serrated ziphodont are credited for putting the Dimetrodon at the top of the food chain in the early Permian period. The serrated knife has been put at the top for cutting modern meat, an interesting comparison.

The Dimetrodon predator is considered a forerunner to mammals.  Scientists believe it to be the first terrestrial vertebrate to have teeth similar to crocodiles.  They were the first terrestrial vertebrate to develop cusps, teeth with points.  Dr. Robert Reisz from the University of Toronto Mississauga said, "The steak knife configuration of these teeth and the architecture of the skull suggest Dimetrodon was able to grab and rip and dismember large prey."

Putting it into perspective, the Dimetrodon lived at least 50 million years before the first dinosaurs evolved 280 million years ago.

Strangely enough, researchers looked at Dimetrodon across a 25 million year span and found that even though skull shapes did not change, tooth shape did. Serration was benefit 280 million years ago, and still is used today.

The Dimetrodon invented serration, and Joseph Burns put it to good use for modern man.