I'm all for it.
[hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][h2 id="post-8"][a href="vny!://www.i-dentalresources.com/blog/8/plasma-to-replace-dentists-drill/" rel="bookmark"]Cold Plasma to Replace Dentist's Drill?[/a][/h2] [div class="meta"] Posted on November 8th, 2006 in [a href="vny!://www.i-dentalresources.com/blog/category/oral-surgery/" title="View all posts in Oral Surgery" rel="category tag"]Oral Surgery[/a], [a href="vny!://www.i-dentalresources.com/blog/category/cavity/" title="View all posts in Cavity" rel="category tag"]Cavity[/a] by Dental Geek [/div] The dentist's drill is the epitome of pain and discomfort in the modern world, but that could soon change. Bio-medical research and the advent of cold plasma needles could eliminate the need for drilling teeth. [/p]
[/p] Eva Stoffels-Adamowicz started development of the device three years ago. A physicist based at the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands, Eva was in the midst of her research on low-pressure plasma when she stumbled upon the idea of a "plasma needle". The needle looks almost as daunting as the dentist's drill, but the drop of plasma at the tip that comes in contact with the affected part of the mouth is cold and painless to the touch. [/p] [/p][h3]What is plasma? [/h3] Put simply, plasma can be defined as ionized gases in a state of high temperature. For some time now, plasma has been used in materials processing and the semiconductor industry. The drawback in applying plasma in medical therapy is the danger of burning out living cells. However, with the research of Eva, which is now being carried forward by Mounir Laroussi and XinPei Lu at the Old Dominion University in Virginia, medical professionals will soon have a hand-held device that can localize plasma to kill bacteria. [/p] [/p][h3]How does it work? [/h3] The device has two electrodes, each made of a wafer-thin copper ring placed on the surface of a glass disk: the disk is about 2.5 cm across, with a minute opening at its center. These electrodes are cased in a dielectric tube and separated by a gap that can vary between 0.5 and 1 cm. When helium gas is injected into the tube and short (less than one microsecond) high-voltage pulses are applied to the electrodes, a discharge is ignited in the gap between the electrodes. This produces a plasma plume through the opening in the outer electrode. The plume remains at room temperature and you can safely touch it with your hands.[/p] The application of cold plasma kills Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) bacteria, which is the most important microorganism for causing cavities. In the near future, cold plasma can very well become and vital tool in biological applications.[/p] [/p][h3]Other Applications[/h3] The needle is well on its way to becoming the painless treatment of the future, and the dentist's drill is certainly on its way out, because there will no longer be a need to "drill out" bacteria. But the story doesn't stop there. The research is being carried forward, and it is likely that its application will be extended to other areas of medical treatment. Researchers are already devising a method of intravenous plasma treatment, whereby plasma treatment can be applied to clear blocked arteries. Look for plasma to revolutionalize the medical profession . [/p]
