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No, this paste cannot be made into a toothpaste because of its strong acidity.
When this paste is applied, the gum must be protected under a dentist's supervision,
otherwise the gum will be chemical-burned.
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This synthetic enamel not only repairs teeth but also protects teeth from
cavity at the same time.
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I don't think it will take long, maybe within two to three years, because
presently there is no method for tooth cavity prevention which everyone
needs.
However, we need to do more clinical testing to confirm the safety of this
therapy for the approval.
The small number of the clinical application at my clinic may not be enough
clinical data.
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Yes, it is now in clinical trials. I'm running clinical trials for the
approval in Japan, but there is no plans to run clinical trials in EU or
USA, yet.
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Procedures of the treatment:
(1) Brush the tooth to clean the surface of early dental caries using toothbrush
with toothpaste on it.
(2) Apply the synthetic enamel paste to the decayed part of the tooth,
and allow it to act for 15 minutes.
(3) Wipe off the paste from the tooth surface of the dental enamel, and wash in water, then dry.
(4) Brush up the crystallized synthetic enamel to make it shiny.
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The bond is integrated in the composition level, but the color of the apatite
is whiter than that of the normal tooth.
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This dissolution and regrowth process occurs due to the low pH(< 2)
of the mother solution and the paste, which forms a continuous structure
from the enamel to the re-grown layer on a nanometer scale.
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Dental caries causes the crystal forming the teeth to melt under the teeth
surface before it actually creates holes on the teeth surface. The teeth
in such a condition look white (white spotted).
The synthetic enamel can be applied to the lesions that have no holes but
melted under teeth surface to the lesions that have holes of tens of micrometer
depth. Since the grown layer is estimated to be 30-50 ƒÊm thick, whether
this paste works or not depends on the depth of the hole, not the width.
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No, coloring of the paste is not necessary since the tooth becomes whiter
after the treatment.
Also, if you put some pigment to color the paste, it causes the crystal
to change its structure, and the reaction of the synthetic enamel will
change, so I don't recommend it.
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Yes, it was an extracted human premolar tooth.
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The tooth was extracted for the reason of orthodontic treatment. It was kept in distilled water for less than 1 year before used in a laboratory.
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The acidic phosphate fluoride solution is applied to the early caries lesion
for the purpose of remineralization.
This remineralization therapy is recommended by FDI and accepted by most
of the dentists. However, this method requires the multiple appointments
with the dentist and long period for the remineralization of the caries
lesions.
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Instead of the remineralization therapy, filling of dental materials such
as composite resin and amalgam, are applied to the drilled cavity. This
restoration technique was dramatically improved by the development of adhesive
filling materials.
This method is the so-called minimally invasive restoration technique.
In this treatment, the amount of the intact tooth substance is limited
since the filling can be bonded to the tooth. However, the bonding is still
not perfect, and the recurrent caries around the filling often occurs.
Another option is the observation of the early lesion. During this period,
the tooth brushing instruction and topical phosphate fluoride application
are done.
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Such tiny caries is the critical situation between the healthy condition
and cavity formation.
Once the cavity is formed, the drill-and-fill treatment has to be applied.
Most of the early caries lesions are confirmed to be reversible stage of
dental caries. If the cavity and the lesions become larger, the life of
the tooth will be shortened.
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It stops the decay. Because, the decay occurs and continues by bacteria.
Synthetic enamel covers the tooth surface. Therefore bacteria cannot survive
because of lack of nutrition.
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I cannot tell you the accurate period, but it stands after 10,000 times
of brushing. It will decay in the same way, but its acid tolerance becomes
higher because of its highly crystalline F-HAP crystals.
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