Toothpaste and dental technology are moving fast, and U.S. drugstores can't keep up!
Thanks to Amazon, Old Mother Hen has discovered the latest dental miracle from Japan: nano-hydroxyapatite. Where we have fluoride, they have hydroxyapatite, which could be even better at fixing enamel. (Fluoride isn't the only element involved in enamel; you also need calcium and phosphate ions, which are part of the hydroxyapatite (Ca10 (PO4)6 (OH)2) molecule.) Apagard Premio toothpaste contains this miracle ingredient. Reviewers rave about it filling in grooves in veneers (can that happen?), curing severe sensitivity, and generally being an awesome toothpaste. (Which it should be, at that price.)
Japan is apparently on the forefront of dental technologies. Japanese dentists have used silver diamine fluoride to treat cavities for years, instead of the American drill-and-fill technique. Though it has drawbacks (blackening teeth?), for back teeth it's a much less destructive way to kill bacteria and stop decay. It could even be a caries "silver-fluoride bullet"!
Old Mother Hen worked in Japan for two years in the early 1990s, and back then she saw lots of evidence that Japan was NOT on the forefront of dental technology. Or at least not all Japanese people were benefiting from it. Decay like this was alarmingly common. It would seem that things can change over 25 years!
There is even a Japanese dentist who has supposedly created a synthetic enamel, which can be applied like toothpaste and fix cavities with no drilling and no blackening. Too good to be true? We shall see.
Anyway, OMH has begun incorporating nano-hydroxyapatite into her tooth care routine. We shall see how it goes!
