Pacific Standard May-June 2013 Cover

The Other Health-Care Reform

dentist

Nothing rattles the mind quite like a toothache; anybody who’s suffered one can attest to that. What’s less appreciated is that poor oral health can throw the rest of the body into disarray as well. Research has linked gum disease with diabetes, heart and lung ailments, strokes, and premature births. Children who don’t see a dentist are more likely to miss school because of infected teeth and gums, and to grow into adults with serious dental problems. And missing teeth make it all but impossible to secure a middle-class job. Dentistry, it turns out, is destiny. It’s also a scarcely ... Read More

Sharks’ Teeth Are Like Our Teeth

tomcruise

A team of German researchers writing in the Journal of Structural Biology have concluded that human teeth are as strong as shark teeth. Structural biology is the study of "the role of molecules embedded in genes." (Apparently) The researchers studied two species of shark, Isurus oxyrinchus and Galeocerdo cuvier, with the goal of understanding the molecular makeup of different teeth. The understanding could lead to better false teeth for humans. The scientists were surprised to find that the shark tooth was no more resistant to cracking or breaking than a human tooth, despite a higher ... Read More

Enamored with Enamel

Having navigated Halloween and now facing Thanksgiving in the United States, and with the December holidays around the corner worldwide, the annual battle of tooth versus sugary treat has begun. Diligently toiling to repair the inevitable cavities is Stefan Habelitz, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco’s School of Dentistry. Habelitz has been studying the wondrous and often complicated production of tooth enamel, our first line of defense against tooth decay. Tooth enamel is as thick as a dime, highly-mineralized, and can withstand an immense amount of pressure (up ... Read More