The Dental Geek recently had the opportunity to conduct an exclusive dental industry interview with Nikos Soukos, DDS, PhD, the founder and director of the Applied Molecular Photomedicine Laboratory of The Forsyth Institute, and a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and Northeastern University.

Dr. Soukos is also the scientific founder of a Boston-based life science startup named PhotOral™, which has licensed the patented technology from The Forsyth Institute in Cambridge, MA to develop an intraoral light device for targeting and obliterating dental plaque pathogenic microorganisms.

Q: Dr. Soukos, this technology sounds very promising. What is blue light, and how does it kill oral bacteria?

A: Blue light is a portion of the spectrum that makes up white light (or visible electromagnetic radiation). The other portions of the light spectrum are violet, indigo, green, yellow, orange and red.

Some potentially harmful dental plaque microorganisms that are involved in the development of periodontal diseases (gingivitis, periodontitis), such as Porphyromonas gingivalis and Prevotella intermedia, produce and accumulate compounds (porphyrins) that are sensitive to light.

When exposed to various wavelengths of blue light, a percentage of these bacteria can be eradicated within a few seconds. Therefore, blue light could be used as a targeted antimicrobial method to control growth within the dental plaque environment.

Q: A lot of new technologies are called game-changers; do you think this will be the case with the blue light dental therapy device when it is introduced to the market?

A: The use of an intraoral light device with selective antimicrobial action for the restoration and maintenance of the homeostatic balance of oral microorganisms is a novel concept that may lead to a new generation of oral care products.

Q: The prevalence of periodontal disease within the US population has been underestimated, with new data suggesting that 50% of Americans have undiagnosed or untreated periodontal disease. Do you believe blue light dental therapy may have a positive impact in reversing these statistics?

A: Daily and short exposures of periodontal pockets to blue light in human subjects with gingivitis and periodontitis may lead to a cumulative suppressive effect of photosensitive dental plaque pathogens.

This may have an impact on the reduction of bleeding in gingivitis and the reduction of inflammation in periodontitis. In both cases, exposure to blue light may result in the gradual suppression of pathogens, which will lead to a shift of the microbial composition towards a new one associated with health.

Our studies also introduce new research paths, where blue light could be used prophylactically.

Q: Can this be considered disruptive technology that will make toothbrushes and dental floss obsolete?

A: Our intraoral light device is introduced as an adjunct to regular oral hygiene.

Q: How far along are you in regard to product development? When do you expect to launch?

A: The goal of PhotOral™ is to have the first intraoral light cleaning device available by late 2012.

Q: Will there be professional and consumer versions of this blue light dental therapy device?

A: There will be a consumer version of the device, whose use will be recommended by dental practitioners, specialists and oral hygienists.

Q: Are there any other future non-dental applications for blue light therapy under development? In dermatology or surgery, for example.

A: I am not aware of any non-dental applications for blue light therapy. However, violet light with peaks at 405 and 420 nanometers has also been used for eradication of Propionibacterium acnes, the gram-positive species that causes acne. A significant improvement in inflammatory lesions of patients with acne vulgaris after exposure to violet light has been demonstrated.

Q: How can Dental Geek readers stay up to date on the progress of your blue light dental therapy device and when it will be available?

A: Readers can visit our company’s website at www.photoral.com for the latest news.

PhotOral’s Blue-light technology will be introduced at the upcoming Yankee Dental Meeting and can be found inside the High Tech Playground, booth #2634.

What do you know about the street dentists of India? Before writing this post, I knew nothing. I knew there are areas in the world lacking dental care, but I didn’t have a full understanding that in India, it was quite normal for someone with no formal training whatsoever to perform dental procedures.

Luckily, India’s street dentists are vanishing, as the country now has 80,000+ licensed dentists with degrees and offices, and the number is growing rapidly. However, with fewer than 100 Indian street dentists left practicing, the reality of these services is chilling.

A typical street dentist in India has a tray laid out on the ground, covered with a few dozen used dentures. Patients come and go, and the dentist’s hands go straight from one patient’s mouth to another. Flies buzz around the patient’s wide-open mouth, and rest themselves atop any blood that may have poured onto the concrete. Molars are ripped out of a patient’s mouth with a pair of rusty old pliers. This work is typically performed for 100-200 rupees, or 2 US dollars.

The video below paints an amazing portrait of the state of dental care underprivileged people are subject to. The reality we take for granted of materials such as anesthetics, protective garb, autoclaves and chemiclaves is all too clear. Please watch the video for a true visual of what some people have sadly experienced. Although, I must warn you, you may not have the stomach to watch it all.

Imagine your hygienist added “consume chocolate” to your oral health regimen. That’s one step I’d be sure not to miss. It’s a nice thought, but we all know chocolate isn’t good for your teeth, although, research suggests an extract of cocoa might be.

Research behind the theory that a cocoa extract would be beneficial to your teeth began in the 1980s. Through extensive clinical studies, Tetsuo Nakomoto, and a professor at the LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans discovered a cocoa extract was beneficial in fighting cavities.

The discovery wasn’t widely recognized until Arman Sadeghpour used the research as part of his doctoral thesis at Tulane University. Sadeghpour compared the effects of cocoa extract and fluoride on strengthening tooth enamel which confirmed that cocoa extract strengthens and enlarges the crystals that make up the tooth, resulting in stronger enamel. Fluoride, on the other hand, strengthens teeth by adhering to and incorporating itself into the tooth.

Inspired by these findings, Nakomota and Sadeghpour developed a new toothpaste in Louisiana that contains no fluoride and instead, relies on a blend of cocoa extract and other minerals to strengthen and harden tooth enamel. The toothpaste – called Theodent – gives consumers who worry about consuming fluoride another option.

Is the toothpaste chocolate flavored? No. It has a mint flavor, like traditional pastes on the market, though developers hope to eventually expand the product line to include a sugar-free, chocolate-flavored toothpaste for kids.

Next week, the toothpaste will hit the shelves of Whole Foods grocery stores in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, New York, New Jersey and a number of stores along the West Coast.

Sedeghpour, now Theodent’s CEO, said that this year, Theodent plans to seek the American Dental Association’s Seal of Acceptance.

Is this a product you’d be interested in trying? The high price point might be a deterrent. At $9.99 a tube, I struggle justifying spending so much on toothpaste, especially without the novelty of a chocolate flavor!

Dental professionals are very excited because scientists have found that our teeth contain valuable stem cells that, if properly stored, could potentially hold the cure to a number of diseases, like Parkinson’s, diabetes, and cancer, and with the future potential to help heal spinal cord injuries, as well.

Stem cell research has been immersed in controversy over the years for many reasons, with the main issues including the following:

• Embryonic stem cells carry technical and ethical challenges.
• Bone marrow stem cells are very painful to collect.
• Cord blood stem cells can only be harvested at birth.

However, with the discovery of stem cells in teeth, an accessible and readily available source of stem cells has been identified. What’s more, dental stem cells are very convenient to collect, while possessing similar benefits for the development of new restorative medical therapies.

Extracting teeth poses a much lower risk than harvesting stem cells via more invasive surgical procedures, and patients also experience far fewer complications. Dentists can now be at the forefront of regenerative medicine, and also serve as a valuable ally to the medical and research communities.

Dental stem cell research, collection, and storage are gaining strong momentum in the dental industry. For example, the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) Council on Clinical Affairs published a policy on stem cells that contained this statement:

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recognizes the emerging field of regenerative medicine and encourages dentists to follow future evidence-based literature in order to educate parents about the collection, storage, viability, and use of dental stem cells with respect to autologous regenerative therapies.

A child’s tooth under the pillow may be worth a buck, but that same tooth, properly collected and stored, will be far more valuable in the future.

With a click of button, you can have the perfect smile you never had.  Technology has done it again. Cheaper and faster than ever, iPhone^®, iPad^® and iTouch^® users now have the capability of what would cost hundreds of dollars to whiten teeth for a low-cost of just $4.99.

Although not a true makeover, the Apple^® website describes the up-to-the-minute application “Whitening Simulator”, as the world’s first automated teeth whitening app.  It incorporates an advanced face and smile detection engine to show users how white your teeth can be.  The application allows users to enhance personal photos by instantly whitening your teeth and then shows a before and after photo illustrating the results!

The application is being used for more than just iPhone^®, iPad^® and iTouch^® users’ pleasure.  Some dentists are even taking the application to a new level and bringing the “Whitening Simulator” into their offices to help patients decide if they would want to invest in a brighter smile.

In a recent article written on the Mobile Applications Blog, Dr. Chasen, DDS explains, “I am impressed with how realistic the results from “Whitening Simulator” are.  In just a few seconds, I can take a picture of a patient and show them what they would look like with whiter teeth. It is fun and helps me motivate my patients to take better care of their teeth.”

What are your thoughts about bringing this application into the dental practice?  Do you think this crafty application will drive more patients to invest in that whiter smile?