ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 31, 1996 TAG: 9601310061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: NEW YORK
SOURCE: Associated Press
Scientists may have a better way for your dentist to look for cavities: passing an electric current through a tooth and all the way down your arm.
It won't hurt, they say.
By detecting the earliest stages of decay, the technique could spare you drilling and fillings, said researcher Christopher Longbottom.
It hasn't been tried on patients or even animals, but was 100 percent accurate finding decay in 26 extracted teeth, Longbottom and colleagues reported in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine.
Merely looking at teeth or using X-rays can miss early signs of decay, said Longbottom, a lecturer at the University of Dundee Dental School in Scotland. He did the work with scientists there and at the University of St. Andrew's in Scotland.
The technique seeks tiny pores created by the earliest stages of tooth decay. A dentist can then apply fluoride or a sealant to stop and perhaps even reverse the decay, Longbottom said.
The device detects pores by passing a current through the tooth and comparing the input frequency with the output frequency. The difference indicates the extent of porosity, Longbottom said.
A dentist would slip an electrode between a patient's teeth or put it on the biting surfaces. The tiny current would go into the tooth and down the patient's arm to an electrode in the patient's hand, and then back to the device.
A similar setup is used now to test whether teeth are alive. It causes a tingle in the tooth. Longbottom said the decay-detecting device would use too little current to be felt.
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