We are not amused
It could so easily have been a set up for an April Fool – but it was not. Copies of the 'Royal' radiographs which were due to be auctioned early last month had been emailed through to the BDA Museum by a press agency for an 'opinion' about the state of King George VI's teeth.
The bitewings, supposedly of the monarch recently portrayed in the Oscar winning film The King's Speech, had apparently been discovered amongst the possessions of a deceased former dental nurse by a man who had bought her house; she having kept them presumably for their uniqueness. Making all the right noises about 'allegedly' and 'confidentiality of patient records' (none of which were incorporated) I also put in a sideways oral health message about the link between smoking and perio disease (the King was a heavy smoker).
Pressure from 'the Palace' caused the withdrawal of the items from sale and there the matter might rest if it were not for the fact, which did not see light of day, that the journalists wanted to know if the bitewings revealed why the King had a speech impediment!
Technology does it again
It was not so long ago that implants totally confused patients who for years had been told that there was no such thing as 'screw-in' teeth, as they had mistaken post and cores for such. Suddenly, it seemed, their dentists had not been telling them the truth. Long explanations followed. I fear that the recent European approval of a 'dental hearing aid' might have similar repercussions.
The device works by being placed on to the upper molars and transmits sound from the jawbone to the inner ear. All this makes complete sense given the anatomical proximity of the two and the ability of bone to transmit vibration, as we know from the use of dental handpieces. What concerns me is that some patients who have for years been claiming to have 'heard voices through their teeth' are now about to return to tell us they were right all along. No amount of long explanations will solve that one.
Stemming art
The cross-over of art and science knows no bounds. A new piece of sculpture, called the Coral Castle aspires to using 12,000 deciduous teeth in the creation of a six foot high work to stimulate debate on the value of stem cells.
Pulps in deciduous teeth are a source of stem cells, which are believed by some to hold future promise for treating a variety of medical and dental conditions. The project is asking children to donate their wobbly teeth by posting them, firmly stuck down with sticky tape to a downloaded form, in return for which the gappy youngsters get a 'token' to put under the pillow for the tooth fairy. Age six-years, trying to identify your tooth as part of an artwork, or cash – deal or no deal?
March Winner
The winner of the March prize of Beverly Hills Formula products is Zaki Kanaan of London for the caption: ‘Thank goodness nurse...I thought you said the CQC inspector was here, it's only the taxman!!’