Drug Could Lower Risk for Oral Cancer

Written by Dentistry TodayMonday, 02 April 2012 15:01



Metformin, a drug commonly used to treat diabetes, could lower the risk of oral cancer.

A new study in Cancer Prevention Research, which is a publication for the American Association for Cancer, came to this conclusion.

J. Silvio Gutkind, chief of the Oral Pharyngeal Cancer Branch of the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research at the National Institutes of Health, and some of his colleagues conducted extensive research involving premalignant lesions in laboratory mice and the impact metformin had on them. One of the reasons for the drug’s success was based on mTORC1, which is something that results in oral cancer.

Metformin may be the most commonly used treatment for type 2 diabetes. At the same time, people who take the drug have seen lower a risk for cancer. Specifically, metformin lowered the size and the number of carcinogen-induced oral tumoral lesions in mice. It also reduced the development of squamous cell carcinomas by about 70 to 90 percent.

The metformin was found to stop the spontaneous development of oral premalignancies into the head and neck squamous cell.

More research is necessary to determine whether or not this information will be applicable to humans during an extended period of time.

Free Clinic Enables Some Californians to Receive Dental Care

Written by Dentistry TodayWednesday, 04 April 2012 07:56



Thousands of people benefitted from a free medical clinic in Sacramento, Calif. last weekend.

During the four-day clinic, more than 3,000 people paid a visit for some kind of treatment. The clinic, which was organized by Remote Area Medical, included dental treatment, health checks, and vision checks. There were 400 medical professionals who volunteered for the event and 600 volunteers total.

There were some dentists who saw in the area of 200 to 300 patients, a figure that could take more than a week at a dentist’s regular office.

Some of the dental treatment included basic cleaning, while some of the more involved treatment included tooth extractions. There were even a few cases in which people had to have all of their teeth removed.

The goal of the clinic was to provide the unemployed and people without government assistance the kind of dental and medical treatment they wouldn’t otherwise have access to.

The total medical coverage at the clinic would have cost $1.3 million, according to FOX40 in Sacramento.

Dental Tattoo Could Be Innovative Addition to Dentistry

Written by Dentistry TodayThursday, 05 April 2012 09:35



Scientists are working on a tooth tattoo that could aid dentists in a significant way.

This new tooth tattoo would have the ability to detect early signs of tooth decay.

This tooth tattoo is made up of a chemical sensor, which would be able to notice the early signs of decay. It would then alert a dentist about this information through a type of wireless technology.

The tattoo is currently being worked on by a research team at Princeton University. The technology involved in the tattoo is similar to the technology used in electronic key cards.

This information comes from a research paper, which was recently published in the journal Nature Communications.

The researchers believe this would be an extremely beneficial way to monitor tooth decay. More research is necessary on specific aspects of the tattoo, like whether or not the device could hold up against the brushing. More tests will be conducted to learn about this issue and others that arise before the tattoo would be available.