It made a lovely story – the new treatment which allows teeth to repair themselves, eliminating fillings. The Daily Mail headline alone made exciting reading – the paper excels in detecting futuristic health stories.
But futuristic is exactly what this story is. If there is a rosy cavity-free future ahead, it’s still a way off. First of all, the process of Electrically Accelerated and Enhanced Remineralisation as the treatment is known, is still in development. The treatment has been devised and researched at Kings College Dental Hospital, and a company has only just been formed to turn this brilliant concept into a product. The company is Reminova Ltd and is in Perth in Scotland.
My real concern are the vast swathes of the population with heavily restored teeth. Large cavities at any age may already have allowed bacteria to enter the dental pulp leading to inflammation and subsequent disease for which the only remedy is root canal treatment.
While there is no doubt that the product is very exciting – it even whitens teeth – a lot more change and patient education needs to take place before all the UK’s population can benefit.