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GROW YOUR OWN Dentists may one day be able to replace missing teeth with ones newly grown from gum cells. A team from King’s College London combined adult gum tissue cells with cells from mice to grow a tooth. Other work uses embryonic stem cells to create ‘bioteeth’, but it’s likely to be years before dentists can use such methods. Source: BBC


DEATH BREATH Tooth-soape was a precursor to modern toothpaste, made using the ashes of burnt mouse, wolf and rabbit heads. People also washed their teeth with tortoise’s blood three times a year to prevent toothaches. It’s thought Egyptians were the fi rst to use pastes to clean teeth in 5,000BC.


FATHERS’ FEAR Dads who fear dentists are more likely to pass on their anxiety to their children. Madrid Uni researchers found both parents play a big role in the transmission of dentist fear, but particularly fathers.


ROYALLY STRESSED Dental analysis on the bones of King Richard III (famously found under a council car park) shows he ground his teeth with stress and lost several teeth due to severe decay. London GDP Amit Rai conducted the research published in the BDJ.


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WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT? Stumped? The answer is at the bottom of the page


CROSSWORD ACROSS


1 Removal of nerve, possibly after root canal work (10)


7 Not soft (4) 9 Dental cement made with glass powder (7)


11 Deviant (8) 12 Japan’s highest mountain (4) 13


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Restorations that extend to replace cusps (6)


15 In the main (6) 18 Front of head (4) 19 Young patients (8) 22 Brand name of luting cement (7) 23 Slender (4) 24 Artifi cial replacement for a tooth, or part thereof (10)


DOWN


2 Mediterranean country (5) 3


4 ____ Lisa (4) 5 Causing great fear (10) 6 Quantity (6) 8 Lace placemat (5) 10 Conceal (10) 14 Rented storage space (6)


16 Young owl (5) 17 Poems (6) 20 Wrecks (5) 21 Indicative of tissue damage (4)


Highly venomous Australasian snake (6)


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10 11


8 9 1 2 3 4 6 5


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See answers online at www.mddus.com. Go to the Notice Board page under News and Events.


PHOTO: STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY


WHAT ARE WE LOOKING AT? SEM of cat’s tooth


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