Is this a press release from a university research group, as it appears to be (the site is down)? Then it's nearly meaningless.
- Sensodyne Repair and Protect contains 'NovaMin' (possibly only in some markets; check the ingredients!)
- NovaMin is the brand name for calcium sodium phosphosilicate
- It reacts with saliva to form a physical layer of hydroxyapatite on your teeth
- This layer blocks the tubules that trigger pain from temperature and such
- It also supports remineralization (how exactly?)
Unfortunately it isn't actually available where I live (US), and I had to buy it from Canada... from a shop that hasn't had stock for more than a year now. I've tried ordering from other countries, but haven't found anyone else who will ship to the US.
I've tried the "BioMin Restore" toothpaste that is available in the US, and I don't feel like it's doing much of anything, but... again, not sure I'm qualified to evaluate.
https://www.jeancoutu.com/en/shop/categories/personal-care/o...
https://www.walmart.ca/en/ip/Sensodyne-Repair-Protect-Sensit...
It's actually great stuff and works wonders for tooth sensitivity above and beyond fluoride shellac. I also order it from the more civilized world.
BioMin is available in the US and is similar, but I don't find it works better and I don't like that it doesn't have fluoride. (I live in an area without fluoride in the water)
I'm not suggesting there's a conscious conspiracy or anything malicious. But I observe that incentives are weirdly aligned. I wonder what this kind of thing would do to a very large industry if all of a sudden some percentage of business disappeared. Is it a large percentage? Would they pivot to more preventative medicine? Would patients adopt a longer duration between checkups?
I also would imagine cleanings aren't where the big money is in the profession, but like you would be interested to hear from actual dentists.
Not to say doing the science and studying to find new approaches is not beneficial. I just think we need to reconsider how we communicate new research. Its like how CEOs hype up AI products at this point. "This will change everything ..... potentially maybe in twenty years (omitted)"
If you ever get into any serious money, forget cars or houses: have your teeth ripped out and replaced with artificial ones.
I wouldn't be surprised if this can, over time, also cause damage to your jaw, and put extra stress on your jaw muscles.
Usually the safety profiles of those companies are very very very bad, but probably reference very good research.
https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a66012157/hu... regrowth-trials-japan/
This would highly disrupt the dental-industrial-complex
Site is down, not in archive.org or archive.today. This Yandex Cache link worked for me: https://yandexwebcache.net/yandbtm?fmode=inject&tm=176237557...
timenotwasted•1h ago
lloydatkinson•1h ago
- Cancer
- Tooth regrowth
It feels like it won’t ever be done for some reason
foxandmouse•1h ago
+ Alzheimer’s cure
+ Hair regrowth
scottlamb•1h ago
...they were persistent vaporware or scams, then suddenly they were real and everywhere. Hopefully that happens for the others too?
fallat•1h ago
palmotea•1h ago
They've had those for decades. It's called meth.
paulpauper•1h ago
ajoseps•1h ago
trenchpilgrim•1h ago
toomuchtodo•1h ago
One-and-done HIV protection in infants - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44736988 - July 2025
US FDA approves Gilead's twice-yearly injection for HIV prevention - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44312729 - June 2025
ashleyn•1h ago
agumonkey•1h ago
there are more articles about advanced tumors being shrunk to nothing than before (based on my personal monitoring)
tootie•1h ago
Cancer treatment varies by type of cancer but many have dramatically improved outcomes.
toyg•1h ago
EvanAnderson•1h ago
(Should have taken better care of it when I was younger and not ignored the massive hole that was growing in it. Chalk it up to a bad dental experience as a child and 25+ years of avoiding dentists as a result...)
stefs•1h ago
alphager•55m ago
Depending on the type of cancer, we now have cures or treatments that stave off death for years.
My wife has a rare type of cancer with not much research thrown at it, and even her type of cancer went from a median time of survival measured in months to several years.
richwater•1h ago
simonswords82•1h ago
muratsu•1h ago
loosescrews•1h ago
abdullahkhalids•1h ago
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss#Efficacy
lakhim•1h ago
Defletter•1h ago
EvanAnderson•1h ago
Alex3917•1h ago
rpearl•1h ago
Furthermore, correlation is not causation and it could well be the case that flossing is associated with better outcomes without causing it. For example, people who can afford to go to the dentist regularly are therefore regularly told to floss. People who care about dental health in general probably floss more, but also may be doing other things, consciously or unconsciously, to improve outcomes. Gut (and perhaps mouth) bacteria have behavioral effects; perhaps flossing is caused by having healthy mouth bacteria!
(at least one study says mouthwash is better than floss. That seems obvious to me! liquids are smaller than floss.)
byearthithatius•1h ago
EvanAnderson•1h ago
re: dental in particular - It seems like enamel regeneration and stem-cell-based tooth replacement have both been in the news year-after-year without applications actually coming to market.
matthewfcarlson•16m ago
elicash•1h ago
0_____0•4m ago
CGMthrowaway•1h ago
[1]https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aaw9569
paulpauper•1h ago
https://www.technologyreview.com/2007/02/22/272845/regrowing...
As it turns out, this is really hard to do. There are a lot required of teeth: they have to be extremely durable to resist repeated strain of chewing ,stay in the gums, not be rejected by body, etc. It's little surprise progress has been so slow.
kangs•1h ago
PaulKeeble•1h ago
There is a lot of hyping of results in medicine papers in general but its not really their fault. The entire academic world is being forced to publish or die as governments look to measure results from the science they instead get what is measured and everyone has to embellish the importance of what they found and always find positive results.
palmotea•1h ago
It sounds like they're running it like a business.
dlcarrier•1h ago
This eventually leads to competitors taking over and those business failing, which usually results in people losing their jobs.
When governments get equally incapable, and competitors take over, it tends to be a lot more violent.
palmotea•1h ago
It's important to note that "eventually" usually takes so long that it might as well be forever.
autoexec•51m ago
If only that fairytale were true. In the real world bloated inefficient companies bribe government, install themselves into government agencies directly (regulatory capture), and hire lobbyists to write laws which protect them from pesky upstarts through unchecked anti-competitive practices and anti-consumer regulation allowing them to stay wealthy and in power forever while killing off innovation and progress.
throwway120385•41m ago
curiouscats•1h ago
https://www.ebay.com/itm/127083185095
"proven to strengthen tooth enamel" I remember researching the stock and deciding not to buy.
Patents from the 1990s https://patents.justia.com/assignee/enamelon-inc
It seems the company is still around https://www.enamelon.com
omlet•1h ago
kjkjadksj•1h ago
caycep•1h ago
on the neuroscience side, off the top of my head, the most impactful things have been better anticoagulants and preventive care for stroke, monoclonal abs for autoimmune diseases like MS/myasthenia, , certain stereotactic brain surgeries, and such. But considering what ails most people, the overall population effect probably is minuscule compared to say better crash safety in automobiles.
mdtancsa•1h ago
baxtr•13m ago