I’ve heard of London blood banks, money banks, and even old clothes banks but this is the first I’ve heard of tooth banks? And why would any one want to save old teeth?
A Norwegian company is now requesting about 100, 000 teeth from children in Norway for their tooth bank.The Tooth Bank happens to be a research sub-project of the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MoBa).It also happens to be a collaborative project between the Norwegian Institute of Public Health as well as the University of Bergen. The main objective of this project is to collect baby teeth to gain further information on the effect of environmental influences and nutrition in the fetus and early childhood.

The new Tooth Bank, MoBaTann, is planning to get parents to donate their children’s teeth for the research project on children’s nutrition as well as developmental influences on teeth. Parents are also encouraged to contribute further information about each mother’s diet and background through pregnancy with answering feedback forms, diet charts as well as complex blood and lab testing for references .The children are followed as they grow with questionnaires. This will be the largest project on collecting information on children teeth as well as the influences they have been exposed to during pregnancy.

Well you aren’t the only one! There are many people who are scared to death of the dentist but don’t really admit to it! There can be many reasons for being afraid of the dentist but you can’t really avoid treating yourself for ever can you. Today let’s talk about a few ways to deal with dental fears and how to control them.
1. On your first appointment get used to your dentist and discuss your fears with him. Mention everything which scares you and why. It’s not really necessary to do treatment on the first appointment unless it’s an emergency.
2. Ask your dentist to describe the entire treatment process in detail to avoid getting scared of sudden new appliances or equipment. Familiarize yourself with your procedure and then try to relax.
3. Arrange a signal with your dentist so that you can tell him when to stop if you are starting to panic. Don’t forget you’ve got his fingers in your mouth!
4. If you are scared of any particular appliance then ask to look at it beforehand like needles or the dental drill. This way you know what to accept and how they look like.
5. Most dentists keep a mirror handy to show patients the restoration. If needed keep a mirror handy to look at the procedure while he his working. But please be careful you don’t impinge in the dentist’s work field.

It’s really appalling and I’m not being sarcastic here. When patients have to resort to pulling their own teeth you really have to wonder what the general healthcare has come to!
London and England have long been famous for the reputed NHS free service which was readily offered to patients as well as visitors who visited the city. But it’s not that way now!
Rising healthcare cost as well as a dearth of dentists has forced many patients to attempt treating their maladies at home itself! In fact two separate surveys of patients in London has come out with the shocking conclusions that 19 per cent of patients avoided dental work because of cost while one man admitted to at least ten attempts to remove teeth on his own with pliers!
Another frequent complaint of patients is that patients find it difficult to remember the confusing tariff list of charges. While many more found the cost down right excessive. Quite a few admitted to taking out loans to pay for their dental treatment or shifting to more expensive and private dentists just because a NHS dentist couldn’t be found.
If this can be the condition in developed countries then you can just imagine what must be happening in third world countries! It’s a fact that the NHS system needs a total overhauling and it needs someone with the guts to take on the lumbering giant. More reforms are definitely needed to get primary dental care to thousands of suffering London patients.