Latest advances in dentistry

Some of the latest advances in dentistry are featured in the Daily Mail this week. We might have to wait 2 years or more for some of them to be widely available. But we can look forward to:

• Toothpaste that contains microscopic glass particles to help protect teeth from decay and hot/cold sensitivity
• Anaesthetic spray to numb your top teeth, long enough for the dentist to do his work. Only works for the upper jaw unfortunately.
• A magic wand that can help reduce gum disease and tooth decay – available in a limited way now
• Turning cheek cells into new gum tissue
• Vibrating gumshield that can speed up tooth straightening but only if you have braces fitted, coming in now
• Keyhole dental implant surgery, less invasive and faster healing, in some clinics now, generally more in use abroad than in the UK
• A drug to unblock nerve channels, speed up blood flow and quickly reverse the effects of anaesthetic, so hours of numbness after a filling will be avoidable
• Tooth coloured fillings which will replace veneers
• A new type of mouth guard to correct your bite, reduce stress on your body and improve your muscle strength, apparently in limited use now
• Saliva tests to detect a range of diseases from cancer to diabetes