Scientists are reporting identification of two substances in licorice - used extensively in Chinese traditional medicine - that kill the major bacteria responsible for tooth decay and gum disease, the leading causes of tooth loss in children and adults. In a study in ACS' Journal of Natural Products, they say that these substances could have a role in treating and preventing tooth decay and gum disease.

Nearly 20 million Americans annually visit a dentist but not a general healthcare provider, according to an NYU study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

The study, conducted by a nursing-dental research team at NYU, is the first of its kind to determine the proportion of Americans who are seen annually by a dentist but not by a general healthcare provider.

This finding suggests dentists can play a crucial role as health care practitioners in the front-line defense of identifying systemic disease which would otherwise go undetected in a significant portion of the population, say the researchers.

Allowing a patient to be comfortable and pain-free during surgical and restorative dental procedures is an essential part of the process. The most commonly used local anesthetic injection for lower teeth is the inferior alveolar nerve (IAN) block. However, failure rates ranging from 10 to 39 percent have been reported.

The current issue of the journal Anesthesia Progress presents a study testing the efficacy of adding a solution of mannitol to the anesthetic typically used in IAN blocks. Forty adult subjects participated in the study, receiving an IAN block at each of three separate appointments at least one week apart.

It is now possible to use dental X-rays to predict who is at risk of fractures, reveals a new study from researchers at the Sahlgrenska Academy reported in the journal Nature Reviews Endocrinology.

In a previous study, researchers from the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy and Region Västra Götaland demonstrated that a sparse bone structure in the trabecular bone in the lower jaw is linked to a greater chance of having previously had fractures in other parts of the body.

X-rays investigates bone structure

An important new study from the Laboratory for Developmental Genetics at USC has confirmed cytomegalovirus (CMV) as a cause of the most common salivary gland cancers. CMV joins a group of fewer than 10 identified oncoviruses - cancer-causing viruses - including HPV.

The findings, published online in the journal Experimental and Molecular Pathology over the weekend, are the latest in a series of studies by USC researchers that together demonstrate CMV's role as an oncovirus, a virus that can either trigger cancer in healthy cells or exploit mutant cell weaknesses to enhance tumor formation.

Professional tooth scaling was associated with fewer heart attacks and strokes in a study (Abstract 17704) from Taiwan presented at the American Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2011.

Among more than 100,000 people, those who had their teeth scraped and cleaned (tooth scaling) by a dentist or dental hygienist had a 24 percent lower risk of heart attack and 13 percent lower risk of stroke compared to those who had never had a dental cleaning. The participants were followed for an average of seven years.

Case Western Reserve University School of Dental Medicine researchers found the human body is better at fighting gum disease when fat cells, which trigger inflammation, disappear.

Findings come from a pilot study of 31 obese people with gum disease. Half of the group with an average body mass index (BMI) of 39 had gastric bypass surgery and had fat cells from the abdomen removed. That half fared better than a control group of obese people with a BMI of 35 who also were treated for gum disease but did not have the gastric bypass surgery or fat removed.

In a study titled "MicroRNA Modulation in Obesity and Periodontitis," lead author Romina Perri, University of North Carolina School of Dentistry, Oral Health Institute, conducted a pilot investigation to determine whether obesity or periodontal disease modified microRNA expression and whether there was any potential interaction between obesity and periodontitis that could involve microRNA modulation. This study is published in the Journal of Dental Research, the official publication of the International and American Associations for Dental Research (IADR/AADR).

The size of our jaws decreases with age. This is shown in a unique study from the Faculty of Dentistry at Malmö University that followed a cohort of dentists throughout their adult lives.

The unique study started in 1949. Plaster molds were made of the jaws of dental students, who were then in their twenties. Ten years later the procedure was repeated, and in 1989, forty years after the first molds, a final round was performed. On that occasion the researchers were in touch with 18 of the original 30 participants.

Normal bacteria which live in our mouths provide the catalyst for the development of gum disease, a debilitating condition which leads to painful gums and the loosening of teeth, new research from Queen Mary, University of London has found.

The unexpected finding could pave the way for the development of preventative measures in tackling gum, or periodontal disease*, by manipulating the normal bacteria in the same way that probiotic yoghurt works to protect the intestine.