Army Develops New Chewing Gum 302
IEBEYEBALL writes "The Army is developing a new chewing gum to help soldiers fight dental problems in the field. The gum takes the place of brushing teeth, which the soldier in a combat situation might not have time or means to do. This sounds like the perfect solution for the geek on the go!"
Some people already do this! (Score:5, Informative)
These people also tend to have the DemonBreath from Hell TM.
Nothing really new there (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Some people already do this! (Score:4, Informative)
Finns had similar product already in seventies. (Score:2, Informative)
Xylitol-Jenkki, the first xylitol chewing gum in the world, was launched by the Finnish company Leaf in 1975.
http://www.xylitol.org/ [xylitol.org]
RTFA (Score:1, Informative)
Re:Bad teeth? (Score:2, Informative)
Look at the many, many studies showing the incidence of cavities in cities with fluoridated water and cities without fluoridation, the effect of fluoride in toothpaste and mouthwash. Anyone who studied chemistry in college can explain it to you. Fluoride prevents cavities, period. Anyone who claims otherwise is a scientific fraud and/or kook.
In fact, due to the popularity of bottled water (which generally isn't fluoridated), cavities are making a resurgence with many people.
Now if you want to argue that ingesting fluoride has side effects, or that it is possible to brush & floss sufficiently to prevent cavities without fluoride, that's another story.
Re:Ummm... ok..... (Score:4, Informative)
You ask "how about investing the money
There are undreds of thousands of people on active duty in our military. Their health is hard to maintain in the field, and anything that assists in that, even if it costs a few million bucks, is well spent. Better body armor, better vehicles, and yes, better overall health from reducing gum disease as a vector for infection (especially overseas). Get a grip.
Re:Sounds nice, but the dentist told me... (Score:5, Informative)
Pot, kettle
what keaps cavities out is not the floride, althought one of it's chemical properties does retard the microbes that can reduce enimal layers and leach calcium.
Your teeth are made of a mineral called hydroxyapatite. Hydroxyapatite contains a hydroxide ion. There is a bacteria in the mouth (called S. Mutans) that produces an acid. This acid removes the hydroxide ion from the hydroxyapatite, making your teeth much, much weaker, leading to cavitites.
Fluoride ions (from toothpaste, drinking water, etc) replace the hydroxyide ions, creating fluoroapatite. Fluoroapatite is much, much more resistant to acid than hydroxyapatite, so the teeth are much, much stronger. Far less cavities occur.
It's simple high school chemistry. I guess someone wasn't paying attention in class.
It's the hot water recomended for not only comfort but to essectially disinfect your mouth.
You actually think that the hottest water that you can stand will kill bacteria? I've got a bridge in New York to sell you.
Re:Chew 'em if you got 'em (Score:3, Informative)
The bills you get afterward aren't such a comfort, either. They take full advantage of you if you don't have insurance.
Re:Sounds nice, but the dentist told me... (Score:5, Informative)
The thing that really helps prevent cavities in your SALIVA. The bacteria in your mouth, streptococcus mutans, eats the sugar in your mouth. A byproduct of this is lactic acid, which breaks down the mineral in your enamel and dentin. Saliva acts as an acid buffer to prevent this. In addition there is a protein "web" called the pellicle layer which also protects teeth from acid and erosion.
Chewing gum stimulates saliva flow, which buffers the acid. Heck, chewing on plain old beeswax will help.
Re:Nothing really new there (Score:2, Informative)
"During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, NASA decided it needed a ball point pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules. After considerable research and development, the Astronaut Pen was developed at a cost of $1 million U.S. The pen worked and also enjoyed some modest success as a novelty item back here on earth.
The Soviet Union, faced with the same problem, used a pencil."
True or not, still funny.
Re:Nothing really new there (Score:3, Informative)
After a little googling, I found this [thewritersedge.com] (scroll down the page a bit to find the explaination) which explains a little more about it.
Re:Some people already do this! (Score:5, Informative)
The gum probably isn't as good as brushing, but that has to do with reasons of bacteria forming what is called a biofilm which needs to be broken up to be eliminated readily. A good brushing action is more effecting than the chewing action of gum.
This is nothing to do with fluoride. Fluoride would be counter productive here. The only circumstances people benefit from low dose topical fluoride is when they are children, and the effect is rather unremarkable. You can look at places that use it, and don't use, and not see any tangible benefit in dental outcomes outside of a few years in the teens. Once adulthood sets in, fluoridated areas fare worse in several outcome measures than non-fluoridated. Once adulthood sets in and the teeth are formed, as in the case of combat soldiers, it becomes entirely counterproductive. Its also counterproducive when the dose is excessive, as in the case of many cities in the USA where they have fluoridated water, use fluoride toothpaste, and consume numerous products (cereals, beer [used to stop brewing process in American beers], other beverages, plant stores like tea..etc) that contain fluoride compounds, in addition exposure through the air from steel, aluminum, nuclear materials production, other metals, phosphate fertilizer manufacture, and burning coal.
The teeth are not the only part of the body affected by fluoride as well. It has been shown to store in the bones and cause brittle bones, a demonstratable increase in hip fractures, it is neurotoxic (which has been demonstrated on multilple species of animals and people working in nuclear processing and aluminum manufacturing facilities) can cause confusion, delerium, decrease in intelligence and other damage to the nervous system that does not appear to be short term, it can lead to arthritic changes in the joints, there is also the matter of a demonstrable increase in bone cancer in boys, dental fluorsis, skeletal fluorosis, damage to the spine and nerves in the spine. It is a cumulative poison, and one of the more toxic ones in regular use.
The military actually tried high dose fluoride treatments in combat situations to prevent tooth decay. They did this in Vietnam, every 6 months soldiers in the field would be called back to use a high dose fluoride tooth paste, and a high dose multicompound fluoride rinse. The results are what you would except, a very short term decline in dental carries, as the fluorsing effects did indeed make the outer enamel shell of the tooth harder, but this occured at the expense the material inside of the tooth. A year later their teeth were crumbling & they were far worse off than those who had not had the treatment at all. The only benefit was short term, it allowed the warfighter to stay out in the field without breaks for dental care for a few months at the expense of damage to all of their teeth later.
There are other methods that could be employed with a delivery device like gum that would likely be more effective. Zinc gluconate and folic acid in a gum would make a very inhospitable environment for bacteria, you could also add antibacterial enzymes and low dose calcium to the gum. Zinc gluconate mouthwashes have demonstrated a high effectiveness for reducing bacteria and resulting decay. Folic acid washes reduce gum inflammation (thus the size of the pockets bacteria can get into to create problems). Antibacterial enzymes are used commercially already in dental mouthwashes such as biotene with a fair degree of effectiveness. Xylitol is also in wide use, though it is not as effective as the other methods. It will be interesting to see what their gum product actually contains. Even just increasing the saliva flow would be good in this environment. Stress tends to reduce the flow, and allows decay to set in faster. The body itself has means to deal with bacteria in the mouth, our normal state is not rotting t
Re:Some people already do this! (Score:1, Informative)
I guess the Institute of Medicine, the National Research Council, the US Dept of Health, the Center for Disease Control, and the World Health Organization are all in on it too, right? This conspiracy reaches much further than we thought! :P
remineralization (Score:2, Informative)
From my studying in chemistry and human physiology, this jives. Fluorine is much more stable than OH, especially when you're dealing with acids (free H+ ions) which want to form a bond with the OH group and leave the molecule. Also, they say that cavities often come from the enzymes and acids that the bacteria use to break down food particles on your teeth. These enzymes and acids end up breaking down hydroxyapatite and expose the dentum.
Fluoride should not need be ingested for the fluoridation to happen. Simply putting the fluoride ions in contact with the hydroxyapatite should cause a reaction.
Re:Some people already do this! (Score:3, Informative)
Wrong. See WHO Monograph "Fluorides and Human Health", series 59 (1970).
Only had to read the first sentence that time :).
Re:Some people already do this! (Score:4, Informative)
Just a quick scan of the literature in my own collection:
Fluoride and bone cancer (Osteosarcomsa)
1. Maurer JY, Cheng MC, Boysen BG, Anderson RL. Two-year carcinogenicity study of sodium fluoride in rats. Journal, National Cancer Institute 82 111811261990. [Found significant dose-related increase in osteosarcoma incident in male rats, in addition, found fluoride correlation with thyroid follicular cell adenomas, and a rare type of liver cancer.]
2. Hoover RN, Devesa S, Cantor K, Fraurneni JF Jr. Time trends for bone and joint cancers and osteosarcomas in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program, National Cancer Institute. In: Review of Fluoride: Benefits and Risks, Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Fluoride of the Committee to Coordinate Environmental Health and Related Programs. US Public Health Service, 1991 pp F 1 -177. [Found higher incidence of bone cancer in males 20 and under in fluoridated vs non-fluoridated area. Did not control for halo effect unfortunately.]
3. Cohn PD. A brief report on the association of drinking water fluoridation and the incidence of osteosarcoma among young males. New Jersey Department of Health, Trenton NJ November 8 1992. [While Cohn could not eliminate other sources of carcenogens, he found a clear and convincing association and correlation with water fluoridation and the incidence of osteosarcoma. Quote directly from study: "Thus it can be seen that, for these populations, the chance of osteosarcoma for males age 10-19 years was 6.9 times higher in the fluoridated municipalities."]
No or scant evidence of protection from Fluoridation or Fluoride exposure in dental carries reduction:
1. Hildebolt CF, Elvin-Lewis H, Molnar S et al. Caries prevalences among geochemical regions of Missouri. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 78 79-92 1989.
2. Yiamouyiannis J A. Water fluoridation and tooth decay results from the 1986- 1987 national survey of US schoolchildren. Fluoride 23 55-67 1990
3. Brunelle JA, Carlos JP. Recent trends in dental caries in US children and the effect of water fluoridation. Journal of Dental research 69 (Special Issue) 7237281990.
4. Attwood D, Blinkhorn AS. Dental health in school children 5 years after water fluoridation ceased in south-west. Scotland. Dent J. 1991 Feb;41(1):43-8.[No evidence that removing the fluoride affects dental carries levels.]
5. Kobayashi S, Kawasaki K, Takagi O, Nakamura M, Fujii N, Shinzato M, Maki Y, Takaesu Y. Caries experience in subjects 18-22 years of age after 13 years' discontinued water fluoridation in Okinawa. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1992 Apr;20(2):81-3. [No evidence of increase in dental carries after 13 years of fluoridation being ceased.]
6. Kalsbeek H, Kwant GW, Groeneveld A, Dirks OB, van Eck AA, Theuns HM. Caries experience of 15-year-old children in The Netherlands after discontinuation of water fluoridation. Caries Res. 1993;27(3):201-5. [More of the same, no statistically signicant evidence of increase in dental carries when fluoridation ceases.]
7. Seppa L, Karkkainen S, Hausen H. Caries frequency in permanent teeth before and after discontinuation of water fluoridation in Kuopio, Finland. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol. 1998 Aug;26(4):256-62. [Again, evidence did not favor fluoridation looking at before addition, during addition, and after removal of fluoride].
8. Kunzel W, Fischer T. Caries prevalence after cessation of water fluoridation in La Salud, Cuba. Caries Res. 2000 Jan-Feb;34(1):20-5. [Found a slight decrease in carried after fluoridation was ceased.]
9. Burt BA, Keels MA, Heller KE. The effects of a break in water fluoridation on the development of dental caries and fluorosis. J Dent Res