Ways to prevent and manage jaw bone disease highlighted

A review of more than a decade’s worth of research on osteonecrosis of the jaw–when the bone in the jaw is exposed and begins to starve from a lack of blood–points to an increased risk for patients taking certain drugs forosteoporosis, anticancer drugs or glucocorticoids, those undergoing dental surgery, and people with poor oral hygiene, chronic inflammation, diabetes, or ill-fitting dentures.

A number of prevention strategies may help protect at-risk individuals, and treatments that are available or under study include the use of antibiotics, surgery, teriparatide, bone marrow stem cell transplantation, and laser therapy.

“Patients need to maintain good oral hygiene especially if they are taking antiresorptive therapy in order to reduce their risk,” said Dr. Aliya Khan, lead author of the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research review.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/287077.php

 

 

Link discovered between prenatal enamel growth rates in teeth and weaning in human babies

The research found that incisor teeth grow quickly in the early stages of the second trimester of a baby’s development, while molars grow at a slower rate in the third trimester. This is so incisors are ready to erupt after birth, at approximately six months of age, when a baby makes the transition from breast-feeding to weaning.

Weaning in humans takes place relatively early compared to some primates, such as chimpanzees. As a result, there is less time available for human incisors to form, so the enamel grows rapidly to compensate.

This research can increase our understanding of weaning in our fossil ancestors and could also help dentists as dental problems do not register in all teeth in the same way. Enamel cells deposit new tissue at different times and different rates, depending on the tooth type.

Exactly when early weaning in humans first began is a hotly debated topic amongst anthropologists. Current dental approaches rely on finding fossil skulls with teeth that are still erupting – which is an extremely rare find. Anthropologists will now be able to explore the start of weaning in an entirely new way because ‘milk teeth’ preserve a record of prenatal enamel growth after they have erupted and for millennia after death.

The research, funded by a Royal Society equipment grant, was conducted by Dr Patrick Mahoney from the Human Osteology Research Lab in the University’s School of Anthropology and Conservation.

Dental fast track: prenatal enamel growth, incisor eruption, and weaning in human infants is published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology on 12 November 2014.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/285883.php