The picture says "enamel-mimicking" and the text says "protective coating that mimics the structure and function of natural enamel", so it looks like a protective layer, not true repair. I've been using a paste with novamin lately, it also creates a protective layer and is also marketed as "repair". I like it and feel some heat when it contacts with teeth, so the chemical reaction must be working. But the marketing leaves a bad taste in the mouth.
Conclusion
Review shows that Novamin has significantly less clinical evidence to prove its effectiveness as a remineralization agent in treating both carious and non-carious lesion. Hence, better designed clinical trials should be carried out in the future before definitive recommendations can be made.
Inetersting, the paper explain how remineralisation works and the role of F and fluoroapatite. This reminds me the recent Veritasium video about why Teflon is so strong - F chemical bonds are the strongest.
For Novamin alone, I've seen and understood the claims of sensitivity protection with hydroxyl-carbonate apatite (HCA). The paper explains it in 4.3. The layer is temporary and protects from acids, conserving the teeth tissue below.
But F is essential and my paste has it together with Novamin. It seems they may work well together. But the paper also explains that F works with saliva rich in minerals to repair the enamel. So if Novamin creates a strong layer, it may block access of F + saliva to enamel (my speculation, as in 4.2 they say "A clean tooth surface is required to access the mineral-deficient spot.").
So maybe a classical Ca+F paste is better overnight when no acid exposure is expected, but Novamin is nice in the morning before breakfast.
I don't know what this new hairpaste does, but Novamin promotes re-enamelization of teeth, which is where mineral ions like calcium bond themselves to the tooth and fill in small pits and fissures. It's not regrowing actual enamel, it's probably not going to fill in any pits you can see with the naked eye, but it's a real and beneficial effect. Actually any fluoride toothpaste also does this, but Novamin may be a bit more effective at it.
I had an impression that Novamin creates an artificial layer as strong as natural enamel, and fills tiny holes that are responsible for high sensitivity with this material that crystallizes with water contact. Then normal Ca+F mineralisation is orthogonal. Novamin itself contains Ca, can it really migrate from the crystals into the tooth tissue?
I feel it on the spot that was sensitive to cold, and that was the reason I looked for something new. The paste is of room temperature, so that feeling must be not a fluke. No idea if it actually works, F+Ca used to be enough.
Sensodyne toothpaste has two lines: one that contains a mild painkiller (Rapid Relief) and one that [claims to] repair small cracks in teeth (Repair & Protect).
I use the latter. I do not know if it works, but I use it. I have never suffered from tooth pain before or after.
So, chewing on beetle exoskeletons would repair teeth enamel? Wonder if there is archaeological evidence of humans doing that. Edit: there seems to be plenty of evidence of eating insects but any dental association is probably incidental (pun not intended). Maybe we just haven’t been looking into the enamel for these structures.
Chewing plant twigs to clean teeth is an ancient way of tooth cleaning in many cultures[1]. I wonder if the Lignin or Suberin in plants acts the same was as Keratin in this study.
Yes! I've seen people with some very striking white teeth in India which is a place where people often do have horrible teeth (often from betel nut use). So the twig users sometimes really stand out. The Wikipedia article has a good point about frequent use though - some people clean their teeth with these twigs almost like a nervous habit and are very intense about it.
What the article doesn't mention is the salivation that Neem twigs cause! Neem trees also produce a biocide called azadirachtin and although the concentration is low in twigs maybe it helps clean the teeth when used a lot?
I used a Neem based shampoo for a short period, but my wife complained that it had an atrocious smell. Guess Neem based oral hygiene would take this to the next level...
Just make sure to identify the plant first, and ensure it is suited for that (unlike the poison oak twig which the naïve city kid picked on one training deployment when trying to impress the country rubes with his knowledge of woodcraft --- fortunately a medic was able to perform a tracheotomy when the allergic reaction swelled his windpipe shut).
It's not just sugar, starchy foods like bread, potatoes start breaking down quickly right in the mouth into simple sugars, it's enough that white bread has a higher glycemic index than actual sugar :)
Yes, some studies and observations suggest that pre-contact Aboriginal Australians had generally good oral health with low rates of tooth decay and periodontal disease.
Never in History have humans had as good teeth as they do today. Also consider that until we had vaccines and antibiotics in the early 20th century, the average lifespan was very short.
Not deeply knowledgeable here but imagine this depended quite a bit on where you were living in 1100 CE.
I think it was fairly rare in Europe, but IDK how well those numbers capture what was common for the majority of the human population living elsewhere.
It was pretty rare even among medieval kings to live to be 70.
The first English king to be definitely alive on their 70th birthday (though no longer "in office") was Philip of Spain (jure uxoris) in 1597, so not a medieval king. That is Early Modern Age.
Elizabeth I. didn't make it, though barely, and so the next to reach 70 was George II. in November 1753! Only since the second half of the 18th century is it common for British monarchs to reach their seventies.
Richard Cromwell lived to be 85, but he was never a king, only Lord Protector.
Edgar Aetheling lived to be 73, but he was never king either, due to certain William arriving en force from Normandy.
Sure. We can also treat cancer better than ever before, but it would still be interesting to know where the rise in cancer cases came from, even if we can patch around the problem and are better off overall. Same for dental health: my understanding is also that people didn't used to need toothpaste to enjoy a comparable dental health
> Never in History have humans had as good teeth as they do today.
This is absolutely untrue. What is your reference?
Never in history have so many people had such "good" looking teeth, but they involve an enormous amount of prosthesis and amalgam. Veneers aren't good teeth, they're intentionally destroyed teeth used to root false teeth.
And brushing, although it keeps teeth clean and not stinky, deepens the gum pockets around teeth that host the microorganisms that will eventually uproot them.
I'll take my bets on modern day britain having much better dental health than any other british era back to the romans. Starchy food + no brushing = bad news.
nHA is prohibitively expensive to produce and the most effective process that produces the smallest particles is patent-protected by Sangi, and therefore many nHA toothpaste brands only contain a fraction of the concentration used to produce the effective results reported in academic studies (1-2% instead of 10%).
If keratin toothpastes can be produced more economically they could be a better option for mass adoption. For anyone who wants to try nHA toothpaste for remineralization, I can only recommend Sangi Apagard Royal toothpaste ($$$) but it does work quite well when used as directed.
Was thinking about oddities of language recently (happens a lot since moving to Germany), specifically how "toothpaste" isn't made from teeth and "tomato paste" isn't something you rub onto a tomato.
So anyway, should we be calling this "hairpaste for teeth", or "toothpaste from hair"?
This semantic variability in the relation between the two nouns of a compound is pretty common in compound nouns: "Y made of X", like "tomato paste", "Y used (somehow) for X" (like "toothpaste", "paintbrush", "electrical outlet"--here an adjective, but still a lexicalized phrase), "Y in X" ("treehouse"), "Y for X" ("doghouse"), "Y containing X" ("paint can"), not to mention metaphorical uses, with some etymological relation between X and Y ("moon shot", "crapshoot", "greenhouse"), and so on. Not to mention multi-word compounds, like "greenhouse gas"--but I'm sure you've seen lots of those in Germany :).
“Windows Subsystem for Linux” is probably the most confusing example of this (an environment subsystem which provides a Linux userspace to a Windows NT kernel). more intuitive would be to call it a Linux Subsystem for Windows, but presumably for branding purposes they wanted Windows in front.
That one isn't an example of this. It is actually a Windows Subsystem (at least WSL1) that exposes Linux syscalls, so is for Linux userspace programs. There is also the Windows Subsystem for Win32 and there used to be a Windows Subsystem for Unix.
Linux Subsystem would be completely wrong, because it is a Subsystem of Windows not of Linux.
I still would expect it to be something running on top of Windows, not a part of the NT kernel. Subsystem is a specific term for a core concept of the NT kernel here, so no it wouldn't make sense to call it LSW.
MS has some confusing naming, this isn't one of them.
“Toothpaste” is the commonly accepted English word (in most English dialects, as far as I’m aware) for that paste which we use to clean our teeth with a brush. So I expect we’ll call it “toothpaste” regardless of the exact chemical composition.
If keratin is the active ingredient, I would suspect the exact source doesn’t really matter.
I agree that the source won't be a reason for not calling it toothpaste, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's not called toothpaste anyway - that's a term they're using now as it makes it easy for people to imagine what they're talking about, but dentists don't call every type of gel/stuff that they apply to teeth "toothpaste", and as this will be about targeting repair rather than daily cleaning I suspect it will get a new name.
That’s very good news, but we’ll have to wait a little bit:
>>> “keratin-based enamel regeneration could be made available to the public within the next two to three years.”
The question is one of optimization. What size (mechanical) or what type of keratin is most suitable, or do we depolymerize (chemical) it first or let oral enzymes do it..? Is brushing as-is sufficient or do we need a longer dwell time..?
I wonder if this will fall into 'supplement' territory for US approval in toothpaste. I can imagine there would be a lot of manufacturers throwing it in without testing to see if their formulation actually works or not.
“The root of the problem” is a more usual usage, but is just as readily applied (ha get it) as “the root of the solution”, especially when a dental pun can be bonded (puns are swell) to the headline (I can’t think of a way to pun on gumline here).
I found the phrasing really difficult to read and understand, even though I got the pun, so you’re not alone in that.
I recently started using a nano-hydroxyapatite based toothpaste. It can't restore enamel but does better at remineralization than fluoride, hopefully it will be a good intermediate for me until something regenerative is available.
To everyone reading this you should still use flouride! Flouride and nanohydroxyapetite together both strengthen the outside layer of your teeth while strengthening the inside of them. Either alone is good, both together are great.
It seems to me the two are effectively the same unless you have significantly misshaped teeth (remineralizing vs regenerating). I also use hydroxyapatite, just to reduce my fluoride exposure, although I believe fluoride is supposed to be a more potent remineralizer (and fluorapatite is allegedly stronger than natural hydroxyapatite). But the upside is that I don't mind swishing hydroxyapatite around in my mouth for 10 minutes, twice a day, so whenever I go to the dentist, I'm the healthiest mouth of the day (not the case pre-hydroxyapatite tooth paste/powder).
Nobs is good because they only use rod-shaped NHA, not needle-shaped NHA which has a worse safety profile. Safety profile is important for anything nano
NHAP particles are smaller than fluoride particles, so they're able to penetrate farther into the porous surface of the teeth; flouride basically can only coat the surface. There is some research indicating that NHAP is more effective than flouride at remineralizing (e.g. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4252862/) but that flouride is more protective than NHAP because NHAP isn't protective at all. (The flouride creates a temporary sacrificial enamel-like shell layer that closes off pores in the surface of the teeth in addition to buffering acids; the NHAP will just create new enamel.)
My dentist says that NHAP is great if you have lots of cavities or drink lots of acidic drinks like soda, but once your enamel is repaired too much of NHAP can actually cause weird growths.
Dave's toothpaste has both NHAP and flouride (and the sensitivity agent used in Sensyodyne) if you're looking for the best of all worlds in the U.S.
Hydroxyapatite based paste is incredible, and has astonished a few of my incredulous friends dealing with dental problems.
It always seemed very interesting in a cynical way that Sensodyne Repair and Protect has a European version with hydroxyapatite but doesn't offer it in the US. The only reputable US brand I'm aware of is Dr Collins Biomin, which is excellent but weak on the hydroxyapatite.
I'll be abused for it here, but I'm intractably convinced the ADA and generally despicable US health industry prefer to avoid it due to its efficacy and how much revenue would be lost if it were more common. Say what you will against this, and I'll remain convinced.
AFAIK the European version of Sensadyne Repair and Protrct uses Novamin, not Hydroxyapatite. From what I can tell, they are similar but separate chemicals.
While not sold directly in the US, Sensadyne with Novamin is available from Amazon (usually from India).
Thanks for clarifying that. I'm confused that my head still insists there was hydroxyapatite involved, but I believe you're correct. My information is over a decade old though.
I appreciate the info, but it honestly seems this person is blabbering, barely presenting even anecdotal evidence and literally just saying it's bad because she thinks maybe it is, because, hey look at my friend over here who nods. Definitely makes me wonder if the "Dr" in her handle is more than text.
That said, I'm not surprised people argue against it. But my teeth haven't "crumbled" after more than a decade of regular apatite use, and that's under various impacts and hard use. If there's any validity to her concerns about it, she should actually discuss them, instead of talking about charcoal and her friend.
Smart mouth has a flouride + hydroxyapetite. I’ve been using it for a few months now and all my tooth pain is completely gone. I’ve been dealing with issues for years and have a wonderful dentist but really had to get myself in shape and brush 2x and really floss correctly. Anyway, that toothpaste also helped compared to only stannous fluoride paste.
Either Biomin, or my first choice, Apagard (from Japan).
Biomin is cleaner, but weaker.
I generally choose Apagard though. If you do too, the Premio is a good version with a substantial hydroxyapatite content.
Try to buy from a reputable seller if Apagard. I'd not worry about Biomin much.
Edit: also note that these are rinseless pastes, intended to remain on the teeth for as long as they linger. This is where Biomin has an advantage, being cleaner. Spitting is fine, but rinsing will reduce efficacy.
Edit II: Some will wail in disagreement. I think a waterjet can literally add years to the average lifespan while helping with oral health. Maybe consider one, with simple design and minimal features.
I’ve been reading about how “X could repair tooth enamel” for years, including on HN. Nothing ever comes of it. I’ll believe it when something exists out of a laboratory and on the market.
> The treatment could be delivered through a toothpaste for daily use or as a professionally applied gel
Could. In other words, they haven’t even tested if a toothpaste is viable, yet the title is written as if this is a ready-made and proven product.
>Unlike bones and hair, enamel does not regenerate, once it is lost, it’s gone forever.
This simply isn't true. I've chipped two teeth at separate times. Both healed up over the years. I still have all my teeth, including wisdom teeth. No dental work in my lifetime.
They….did not. Maybe the sharp edges eroded into smoother curves, and the nerve acclimated so any sensitivity resolved, but your teeth did not “heal” as in “replace the lost portion”.
>but your teeth did not “heal” as in “replace the lost portion”.
I can assure you that is exactly what happened, because one was a vertical chip out of the front of my tooth, like a small rice grain. For my tooth to "wear down" to hide it, I would have had to lose all the enamel on the front of that tooth, which did not happen.
As for the other, where I lost the corner of a front tooth, I suspect my old dentist in my hometown still has an xray, because my parents took me in. He offered to crown it and I declined, choosing to live with the chip. Good thing I did that, since it healed up.
In the Dutch public TV program "Keuringsdienst van Waarde" they had an episode about bread improvement ingredient (keratine) and traced it down to being sourced from human hair collected at hairdressers in China. Sounds disgusting of course, but many raw materials are, and after processing industrial grade pure keratine is the output.
Not really. People started having issues with teeth when we switched to farming and went from a diverse diet to a pretty poor one (grain, grain, grain).
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7068624/
Conclusion Review shows that Novamin has significantly less clinical evidence to prove its effectiveness as a remineralization agent in treating both carious and non-carious lesion. Hence, better designed clinical trials should be carried out in the future before definitive recommendations can be made.
For Novamin alone, I've seen and understood the claims of sensitivity protection with hydroxyl-carbonate apatite (HCA). The paper explains it in 4.3. The layer is temporary and protects from acids, conserving the teeth tissue below.
But F is essential and my paste has it together with Novamin. It seems they may work well together. But the paper also explains that F works with saliva rich in minerals to repair the enamel. So if Novamin creates a strong layer, it may block access of F + saliva to enamel (my speculation, as in 4.2 they say "A clean tooth surface is required to access the mineral-deficient spot.").
So maybe a classical Ca+F paste is better overnight when no acid exposure is expected, but Novamin is nice in the morning before breakfast.
Have you noticed something more promising ? I am not sure, because I typically do not eat carbs.
Hard to brush that one off!
[that was brilliant, you missed your calling. I am completely enamled :D]
That's really great I hope to use this some day.
I use the latter. I do not know if it works, but I use it. I have never suffered from tooth pain before or after.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teeth-cleaning_twig
What the article doesn't mention is the salivation that Neem twigs cause! Neem trees also produce a biocide called azadirachtin and although the concentration is low in twigs maybe it helps clean the teeth when used a lot?
You could chew on your fingernails...
https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2014-01-07-starchy-food-led-rotten...
But I think the more common prehistoric tooth problem was severe wear from using the teeth to process things like fibers and hides.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jphd.12570
I think it was fairly rare in Europe, but IDK how well those numbers capture what was common for the majority of the human population living elsewhere.
The first English king to be definitely alive on their 70th birthday (though no longer "in office") was Philip of Spain (jure uxoris) in 1597, so not a medieval king. That is Early Modern Age.
Elizabeth I. didn't make it, though barely, and so the next to reach 70 was George II. in November 1753! Only since the second half of the 18th century is it common for British monarchs to reach their seventies.
Richard Cromwell lived to be 85, but he was never a king, only Lord Protector.
Edgar Aetheling lived to be 73, but he was never king either, due to certain William arriving en force from Normandy.
I did not dispute that this was likely rare in medieval Europe (for the same reason you cite).
Check out Nutrition and physical degeneration book by Weston Price.
All you need to do is to look at the pictures in the book, you don't even need to read it.
This is absolutely untrue. What is your reference?
Never in history have so many people had such "good" looking teeth, but they involve an enormous amount of prosthesis and amalgam. Veneers aren't good teeth, they're intentionally destroyed teeth used to root false teeth.
And brushing, although it keeps teeth clean and not stinky, deepens the gum pockets around teeth that host the microorganisms that will eventually uproot them.
2. Dining out at a place with low hygiene standards
3. "Dining in" ;)
If keratin toothpastes can be produced more economically they could be a better option for mass adoption. For anyone who wants to try nHA toothpaste for remineralization, I can only recommend Sangi Apagard Royal toothpaste ($$$) but it does work quite well when used as directed.
So anyway, should we be calling this "hairpaste for teeth", or "toothpaste from hair"?
Linux Subsystem would be completely wrong, because it is a Subsystem of Windows not of Linux.
Y of X providing Z - Windows Subsystem for Linux.
Y providing X on Z - Linux Subsystem for Windows.
The former is "for [having]", the latter is "for [use on]".
MS has some confusing naming, this isn't one of them.
If keratin is the active ingredient, I would suspect the exact source doesn’t really matter.
We expect olive oil to be made from real olives, but not baby oil…
This is about tooth paste, not a supplement
The question is one of optimization. What size (mechanical) or what type of keratin is most suitable, or do we depolymerize (chemical) it first or let oral enzymes do it..? Is brushing as-is sufficient or do we need a longer dwell time..?
https://www.jsr.org/hs/index.php/path/article/download/4787/...
Suitable chemical methods:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01418...
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10157874/
https://xkcd.com/1349/
EU citizen here.
Is this mechanism different?
I found the phrasing really difficult to read and understand, even though I got the pun, so you’re not alone in that.
Hey Siri, remind me in three years to look for keratin based toothpaste.
My dentist says that NHAP is great if you have lots of cavities or drink lots of acidic drinks like soda, but once your enamel is repaired too much of NHAP can actually cause weird growths.
Dave's toothpaste has both NHAP and flouride (and the sensitivity agent used in Sensyodyne) if you're looking for the best of all worlds in the U.S.
And has an RDA of 101. Why on earth would a toothpaste meant for sensitivity have this high of an RDA? (Non-whitening sensodyne is around the 40s)
It always seemed very interesting in a cynical way that Sensodyne Repair and Protect has a European version with hydroxyapatite but doesn't offer it in the US. The only reputable US brand I'm aware of is Dr Collins Biomin, which is excellent but weak on the hydroxyapatite.
I'll be abused for it here, but I'm intractably convinced the ADA and generally despicable US health industry prefer to avoid it due to its efficacy and how much revenue would be lost if it were more common. Say what you will against this, and I'll remain convinced.
While not sold directly in the US, Sensadyne with Novamin is available from Amazon (usually from India).
That said, I'm not surprised people argue against it. But my teeth haven't "crumbled" after more than a decade of regular apatite use, and that's under various impacts and hard use. If there's any validity to her concerns about it, she should actually discuss them, instead of talking about charcoal and her friend.
https://davids-usa.com/products/davids-sensitive-whitening-n...
Biomin is cleaner, but weaker.
I generally choose Apagard though. If you do too, the Premio is a good version with a substantial hydroxyapatite content.
Try to buy from a reputable seller if Apagard. I'd not worry about Biomin much.
Edit: also note that these are rinseless pastes, intended to remain on the teeth for as long as they linger. This is where Biomin has an advantage, being cleaner. Spitting is fine, but rinsing will reduce efficacy.
Edit II: Some will wail in disagreement. I think a waterjet can literally add years to the average lifespan while helping with oral health. Maybe consider one, with simple design and minimal features.
I wonder how they got the idea to put some in it
> The treatment could be delivered through a toothpaste for daily use or as a professionally applied gel
Could. In other words, they haven’t even tested if a toothpaste is viable, yet the title is written as if this is a ready-made and proven product.
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jan/09/decline-of-t...
This simply isn't true. I've chipped two teeth at separate times. Both healed up over the years. I still have all my teeth, including wisdom teeth. No dental work in my lifetime.
They….did not. Maybe the sharp edges eroded into smoother curves, and the nerve acclimated so any sensitivity resolved, but your teeth did not “heal” as in “replace the lost portion”.
I can assure you that is exactly what happened, because one was a vertical chip out of the front of my tooth, like a small rice grain. For my tooth to "wear down" to hide it, I would have had to lose all the enamel on the front of that tooth, which did not happen.
As for the other, where I lost the corner of a front tooth, I suspect my old dentist in my hometown still has an xray, because my parents took me in. He offered to crown it and I declined, choosing to live with the chip. Good thing I did that, since it healed up.
https://www.bnnvara.nl/joop/artikelen/chinees-mensenhaar-ver...