Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Through the decades, many have claimed they solved the tooth decay problem. Nobody ever shipped a product, let alone a working one. This is the next one in the series so long I feel extremely skeptical. Even if it actually works it will probably cost some crazy money (part of which will hopefully go to a fund to support millions of jobless dentists /s). Nevertheless I'm glad this popped up here anyway.


This isn't so much a prevention of tooth decay as it is a contribution to the hydroxyapatite crystal structure in a non-regenerable part of your tooth.


Could you please explain? What is a non-regenerable part of a tooth and what is a regenerable part of it? Why repairing its crystal structure is not a prevention of its decay?


The outer hard enamel layer of your teeth is acellular and cannot regenerate after it forms. Its been a while since I worked in this field (my PhD) but the inner dentin has some ability to regenerate due to the adjacent cells in the pulp. I'm not really sure I understand what the previous comment is saying about the crystal structure. All of the tooth (enamel and dentin) and bone mineral related carbonate "hydroxyl" apatite is crystalline with some additional amorphous material in between.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: