Laboratory Equipment

Test Overestimates Mercury Exposure from Dental Fillings

A common test used to determine mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings may significantly overestimate the amount of the toxic metal released from fillings, according to Univ. of Michigan researchers.

Scientists agree that dental amalgam fillings slowly release mercury vapor into the mouth. But both the amount of mercury released and the question of whether this exposure presents a significant health risk remain controversial.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/03/test-overestimates-mercury-exposure-dental-fillings

Sublingual Immunotherapy Treats Peanut Allergy

Peanuts are one of the most common triggers of severe food-induced allergic reactions, which can be fatal, and the prevalence of peanut allergy is increasing. However, there is currently no clinical treatment available for peanut allergy other than strict dietary elimination and, in cases of accidental ingestion, injections of epinephrine.

But a new multicenter clinical trial shows promise for sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT), a treatment in which patients are given daily doses, in gradually increasing amounts, of a liquid containing peanut powder. The patients first hold the liquid under the tongue for 2 minutes and then swallow it.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2013/01/sublingual-immunotherapy-treats-peanut-allergy

Caffeinated Coffee Significantly Lowers Risk of Oral Cancer

A new American Cancer Society study finds a strong inverse association between caffeinated coffee intake and oral/pharyngeal cancer mortality. The authors say people who drank more than four cups of caffeinated coffee per day were at about half the risk of death of these often fatal cancers compared to those who only occasionally or who never drank coffee. The study is published online in the American Journal of Epidemiology. The authors say more research is needed to elucidate the biologic mechanisms that could be at work.

Previous epidemiologic studies have suggested that coffee intake is associated with reduced risk of oral/pharyngeal cancer. To explore the finding further, researchers examined associations of caffeinated coffee, decaffeinated coffee, and tea intake with fatal oral/pharyngeal cancer in the Cancer Prevention Study II, a prospective U.S. cohort study begun in 1982 by the American Cancer Society.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/12/caffeinated-coffee-significantly-lowers-risk-oral-cancer

Oral Bacteria is an Indicator of Pancreatic Cancer Risk

A new study finds significant associations between antibodies for multiple oral bacteria and the risk of pancreatic cancer, adding support for the emerging idea that the ostensibly distant medical conditions are related.

Pancreatic cancer is highly lethal and difficult to detect early. In a new study, researchers report that people who had high levels of antibodies for an infectious oral bacterium turned out to have double the risk for developing the cancer. High antibody levels for harmless oral bacteria, meanwhile, predicted a reduced pancreatic cancer risk.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/09/oral-bacteria-indicator-pancreatic-cancer-risk

Oral Carcinogen Found in Smokeless Tobacco

Scientists identified the first substance in smokeless tobacco that is a strong oral carcinogen ― a health risk for the nine million users of chewing tobacco, snuff and related products in the U.S. ― and called upon the federal government to regulate or ban the substance.

“This is the first example of a strong oral cavity carcinogen that’s in smokeless tobacco,” says Stephen Hecht, who led the study. “Our results are very important in regard to the growing use of smokeless tobacco in the world, especially among younger people who think it is a safer form of tobacco than cigarettes. We now have the identity of the only known strong oral carcinogen in these products.”

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/08/oral-carcinogen-found-smokeless-tobacco

Bad Teeth Can Affect a Child’s School Grades

Poor oral health, dental disease and tooth pain can put kids at a serious disadvantage in school, according to a new Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC study.

“The Impact of Oral Health on the Academic Performance of Disadvantaged Children,” appearing in the September 2012 issue of the American Journal of Public Health, examined nearly 1,500 socioeconomically disadvantaged elementary and high school children in the Los Angeles Unified School District, matching their oral health status to their academic achievement and attendance records.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news/2012/08/bad-teeth-can-affect-child%E2%80%99s-school-grades

Tooth Tattoo Senses Harmful Bacteria

Using silk strands pulled from cocoons and gold wires thinner than a spider’s web, researchers at Princeton Univ. have created a removable tattoo that adheres to dental enamel and could eventually monitor a patient’s health with unprecedented sensitivity.

In a laboratory in Princeton’s Engineering Quadrangle, a graduate student demonstrated the system’s wireless capability, breathing across a sensor attached to a cow’s tooth. Instantaneously, the sensor generated a response to the student’s breath and transmitted a signal to a nearby monitor.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Tooth-Tattoo-Senses-Harmful-Bacteria-053112.aspx

Oral Health May Be Key to Healthy Joints

The culprit behind a failed hip or knee replacements might be found in the mouth.

DNA testing of bacteria from the fluid that lubricates hip and knee joints had bacteria with the same DNA as the plaque from patients with gum disease and in need of a joint replacement. This study is one of many coming from the Case Western Reserve Univ. School of Dental Medicine that have linked oral bacteria to health problems when they escape from the mouth and enter the blood.

Read more: http://www.laboratoryequipment.com/news-Oral-Health-May-Be-Key-to-Healthy-Joints-041912.aspx