NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF DENTISTRY
NEWS FROM THE WORLD OF DENTISTRY
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
EXPLODING E-CIGARETTE KNOCKS OUT TEETH � According to a report in the International Business Times , a man has suffered shocking injuries to his face after an e-cigarette exploded in his mouth . Andrew Hall from Pocatello , Idaho , lost seven teeth and suffered second-degree burns after the e-cigarette blew up while he was in the bathroom of his home . After he was taken to his local intensive care unit with a bloodied lip , singed beard and a hole in his cheek , Hall posted the pictures on Facebook to raise awareness of the potential dangers of using e-cigarettes . Since the accident , Hall said he has been pulling chunks of plastic , teeth and foreign objects from his mouth , throat and lips . He added : “ I know vapes help people quit smoking cigarettes and that ’ s amazing . I just want to bring to light this is possible that they can explode without warning . I would have said ‘ No way that ’ s possible ,’ until now .”
A German man suffered serious facial injuries and lost a number of his teeth when an e-cigarette exploded in his mouth . The 20-year-old was smoking an electric cigarette , and had put the device to his mouth to inhale , when the battery exploded , Cologne police reports . He suffered severe injuries to his face , including wounds to his mouth , with the explosion itself knocking out several teeth .
These latest incidents are the latest in a number of cases over the last 10 years , leading to burn and plastic surgeons calling for greater regulation . The most common
theory surrounding the explosions are linked to either battery problems or to the use of incorrect chargers .
THE DENTAL NURSE WHO BECAME AN ALLIGATOR CATCHER � According to a report by the BBC , Christy Kroboth gave up her career as a dental nurse to focus on animals with a lot more teeth - alligators . When she started training as an alligator catcher she was the only woman in her class , but that made her even more determined to show she could jump on an animal many times her size , and tape its jaws tightly shut .
“ When I first got my licence I was only doing this as a hobby , I ’ d go to work as a dental assistant and catch my alligators on the side . But I got well known for taking the alligators alive , and I ’ m now doing this as my full-time job . Where I live in the south part of Texas we have a lot of alligators and there are these big master-plan communities that have manmade ponds and these ponds have alligators in them .”
“ I registered to be an alligator hunter with Texas Parks and Wildlife and we had to go through a whole training course . I was the only girl in the class and also the youngest . We had to go through the rules , laws and regulations , and then the trainer told us : “ OK , you ’ ve all passed the paperwork , now let ’ s go do this hands-on .”
I ran out to the pond , got the alligator , taped him up and ended up passing the test . It was one of the happiest moments of my life and that adrenaline rush lasted the whole day . The biggest alligator I ’ ve ever caught was a 13ft ( 4m ) male weighing more than 900lb ( 408kg ). I ’ m 120lb ( 54kg ), so he outweighed me by a good amount .”
SPAIN – THE BASQUE COUNTRY
COATINGS FOR IMPLANTS � At the UPV / EHU University of the Basque Country , scientists are developing coatings for dental implants to help ensure successful implantation . Mouth infections are currently regarded as the main reason why dental implants fail . A piece of research by the UPV / EHU has succeeded in developing coatings capable of preventing potential bacterial infection and should it arise , eliminate it as well as providing implants with osseointegrating properties , in other words . When it comes to designing strategies to combat these problems , one has to bear in mind the challenge posed by providing the surface of titanium implants with antibacterial properties , and at the same time , by the tremendous resistance that bacterial strains are capable of developing to conventional therapies with antibiotics .
That was the challenge that the UPV / EHU group , which has for some time been developing materials geared towards dental implants , was keen to tackle . “ We had already obtained coatings that facilitate the generating of bone around the implant and thus facilitate anchoring to the bone . In a bid to go a step further , we looked at how to turn these coatings into bactericides ,” said the researcher , Beatriz Palla .
The method they used for this was sol-gel synthesis . Sol-gel synthesis is based on the preparation of a precursor solution ( sol ) that when left on its own for a while turns into a gel that can be used to coat the surface of the titanium screw , and after heat treatment at a high temperature in the kiln ends up finally being adhered to the screw that will be implanted . “ We used silica as the precursor , because in many studies this compound has been shown to be osteoinductive , so it facilitates one of the objectives we wanted to achieve . What is more , to provide the materials with antibacterial characteristics , we added various antibacterial agents .”
In the study carried out , Palla developed three types of coatings depending on the various antibacterial agents chosen ; each one had a mechanism to tackle bacterial infections , either prophylactically by preventing the bacteria from becoming adhered initially and the subsequent infection , or else by eliminating it once it has developed .
University of the Basque Country . “ Dental implants with antibacterial activity and designed to facilitate integration into the bone .” ScienceDaily , 26 December 2016 . < www . sciencedaily . com / releases / 2016 / 12 / 161226175346 . htm >.
BREAKING NEWS
... as we go to press , that hundreds of individual GP ’ s have voted in favour of quitting the NHS over recruitment , workload and funding which could mean that they would charge a consultation fee of around £ 45 per patient visit – similar to that in the Republic . Knowing of the increasing unhappiness in the UK dental profession could this trigger similar moves ? u
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