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Dental Advances

New breakthroughs are making it easier than ever to save your teeth – and improve your life

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David Stokes has always been a high flyer. A professional basketball league player from Geelong, he ­returned to school in his 30s to complete his HSC and then undertook five years of uni to earn an MBA. He now works as a productivity consultant, travels the world and enjoys life to the full.

But for years, one thing had niggled him – his mouth. A chronic grinder, he’d worn his teeth down top and bottom, leaving them brown and with the nerves exposed. An acid mouth from sipping soft drinks all day, combined with blood pressure tablets, had given him a mouth full of fillings – and four of his teeth were missing. "I’m a pretty confident sort of guy, but people could definitely see my teeth," he says.

In March last year, David walked into the surgery of Dr Michael Ho, a Sydney dentist, for a mouth makeover. Using new E4D laser technology, Ho mapped the missing parts of David’s teeth. He fiddled with the ­dimensions on a computer, then milled an exact replica of each tooth from white porcelain and fixed them into position to give David a dazzling smile.

"I was getting to the stage where I had to take action, and I think my mouth and teeth look great now," David says. All up, the new mouth will cost him as much as a new car, but he considers it well worth it. "I’m happy."

While dentistry is reaching new heights of sophistication, dental ­disease in Australia is still an undeniable reality. Over a quarter of us have untreated tooth decay, with up to 95% of adults born before 1970 – and 76% of people born after – having at least one filling. About one in 20 adult Australians have lost all of their natural teeth. Meanwhile, our sugar-laden diet of soft drinks and fast food has stalled the gains made in children’s oral health in recent years, says Robert Boyd-Boland, CEO of the Australian Dental Association.

That’s a problem, since there’s mounting evidence that oral health ­affects the entire body. Gum disease and tooth decay are the most common infections in Australians, and put us at higher risk of heart disease, diabetes, lung infections, osteoporosis and preterm births. Unchecked infection in teeth and gums can be dangerous, even life-threatening, because the mouth is situated so close to the brain, lungs and heart, while jaw problems can lead to chronic poor sleep. Oral cancer is also an issue.

Luckily, improving dental health improves overall health, too. Researchers recently reported that treating advanced gum disease lowered blood pressure, thereby reducing the risk of heart disease. And now a wave of technological innovation is making dental treatment safer, faster and more comfortable than ever.

Stopping cavities

A decade ago, most dentists looked for cavities, and when they found one, they drilled and filled. But now dentists are starting to spot tooth decay early enough to stop cavities in their tracks. Several devices help. One is DIAGNOdent, a pen-like instrument that shines a tiny laser beam over a tooth’s surface and detects the differences in reflected light between healthy and decaying enamel. And CT-scan-like technology called optical coherence tomography, now at prototype stage, creates a holographic image of the entire mouth on a computer screen. Telltale tiny white dots on teeth signal microscopic pits in the enamel, which could be sealed or treated to prevent cavities and restore the natural teeth.

Soon dentists may also be able to kill tooth-decay bacteria harmlessly with a device that delivers a quick pulse of ozone. While the dentist may still need to drill to get close enough to the decay, "the beauty is you don’t need to remove so much tooth structure, and that hopefully avoids the need for root canal treatment," says Dr Ron Ehrlich of the Sydney Holistic Dental Centre.

Meanwhile, there’s an emphasis in Australia on preventing cavities by replacing lost minerals in the teeth so they can repair themselves. University of Melbourne researchers have developed a product called Recaldent which enables the calcium and phosphate found in cows’ milk to bind to teeth and be absorbed by the enamel. A study of 2700 children found that those who chewed sugar-free gum containing Recaldent had their tooth decay reversed. The technology is available in various forms including gum, mousse and dental cements, and has the potential to be added to various foods and drinks.

People also lose teeth from periodontal, or gum, disease. In Australia, research work is underway to counteract its effects with a product known as Kappacin, a peptide isolated from cows’ milk that has significant antibacterial activity. When combined with zinc to form a product called KappaZinc, this complex is more effective at ­inhibiting the growth of the bacteria that cause tooth decay than any antibacterial additives currently used in mouth rinses.