Bio Materials for Medical Purposes

Amalgam dental restorations which are also known as silver fillings are the number one choice for restoring teeth. These silver fillings have been used for over a hundred years to fill in cavities where there has been tooth decay. The question many have is “what is dental amalgam?” Dental amalgam is a mixture of materials containing powdered alloy, metals and mercury. There have been some concerns, however about the safety of this mercury containing filling material. “Amalgam is in the same safety class as gold and composite fillings” (FDA) and does not pose the safety concerns as once thought. Compared to other dental materials, such as composite and glass ionomer, amalgam is the “most studied and tested.” (NCAHF) Many

- Biometra is a subsidiary of Scientific Materials (SciMat). They handle vascular medical devices and produce catheters with innovative vascular technologies. Depending on their positions, they manage product operations, train clinic practical, and develop a marketing strategy at Biometra.

had to be flexible enough to allow the wearer freedom of movement; second, it also had to be

The history of dental hygiene started back many years during the Sumerian times. “The earliest known writing about tooth disease was an ancient Sumerian text that dates to about 5,000 B.C. accusing “tooth worms” of burrowing into teeth thus forming characteristic holes of tooth decay, a superstition that persisted through the Middle Ages in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe.” (Byers 1) Years later, the ancient Egyptians increased their knowledge on dental care. “The Ancient Egyptians were some of the first people to develop specialized dental care techniques.” (Libal 48) “Many dental procedures have existed for thousands of years… Some practices go back to the Egyptian empire of 2,000 B.C.” (Byers 2)

Dentistry has a long and complex history, with the earliest evidence of it being performed being dated back to 7000 B.C. from the Indus River Valley Civilization. Later, an ancient Sumerian text mentioned “tooth worms” around 5000 B.C., and from 2900 - 2700 B.C,Egyptians began drilling teeth to drain abscesses. Etruscan and Greek physicians further progressed dentistry by pioneering dental prosthetics and writing texts that contained information about dentistry. The Roman Empire later conquered the Etruscans and absorbed some of their culture, including dentistry. In fact, the Roman medical writer Celsus wrote on many topics pertaining to dentistry. In Asia, although the Chinese did use silver amalgam fillings as early as 200 B.C., a proclamation from the Qu’ran that prohibited body mutilation prevented the advancement of dental surgery for many years. The first book to focus solely on dentistry, Little Medicinal Book for All Kinds of Diseases and Infirmities of the Teeth by Artzney Buchlein was published in Germany in 1530. Known European dental achievements were mostly French and English in the 16th and 17th century, with James Hunter, an English surgeon, pioneering the idea of teeth transplant. When the English began settling the United States, many of them brought along their dental practices. Notable American dentists during the colonial period include Isaac and John Greenwood and Paul Revere. In the 19th century, America was a hotbed for dentistry related

There are many choices of dental filling materials out there that it is hard to choose one.  Dental amalgam has been used in dentistry for more than 150 years.  Most patients would recognize dental amalgam as “silver fillings”.  There is also resin composite filling material that is aesthetically pleasing to the eye and becoming widely used in most dental offices.

Bionic body parts are used to help people who have a problem or that have lost a part of their bodies. These body parts are mostly used to replace parts that were lost due to a terrible accident or that are lost due to disease. In the article it states ”Artificial limbs, or prostheses, are used to replace a missing body part which may have been lost due to trauma, disease or congenital defect.” Bionic body parts are used

In the 700BC, bone, ivory, pebble, animal or human teeth were the first documented materials used for partial denture construction. (3) They were held in place with wires or copper bands that go beneath the gingiva. (3) In the early 16th century, dentures were carved out of a single piece of wood and were retained in the mouth by atmospheric pressure. In a few complete dentures ivory, bone or human teeth were attached to the wooden denture base, which later were attached to the enameled metal base. (3) In order to improve the mastication

Some of the first evidence of orthodontic methods came from the Egyptians. After opening tombs, archeologists found that Egyptians used animal intestines to wrap around their teeth in hope of closing gaps. Similar to the Egyptians, Romans have been found to have been wires, instead made of gold, wrapped around their teeth which were called ligatures. Hippocrates and Aristotle wrote on ways to stabilize teeth with wires. The American Association of Orthodontics archeologists have discovered Greek and Etruscan “bridges” that go all the way back to 1000 BC. The Etruscans lived in and around Italy between 770 and 270 BC. They believe that remains have been found due to their extensive burial rituals which included placing a like a mouth guard made of pure gold in the deceased person’s mouth, typically women, to prevent inward collapse and protect spacing in teeth so they would take their smile with them to the afterlife. Aulus Cornelius

Biomedical engineering, or bioengineering, is the application of furthering the principles of manmade objects. The field of bioengineering in question here is prosthesis. Prosthesis is a combination of neurology and bioengineering; the combination helps amputees feel again. Neuroprosthetics can be described as output neural interfaces, which records neural signals, this means that the brain can transfer a message to a limb, or as input neural interfaces, which means that the external environment can be displayed onto internal limbs i.e. the computer (external) to a bionic limb (internal).

There are four main types of tissue in the body; muscle, connective, epithelial, and nervous tissues []. In this paper, I will be covering the replacement of both hard and soft tissues. As organs are the most frequently replaced body part I will be covering them separately

Collagen is very durable and is a fibrous material with a glue-like consistency. It comprises about one-third of the proteins found in the body and includes significant quantities of the two amino acids proline and hydroxyproline. The areas particularly reliant on collagen include skin, bones and all the connective tissues found in cartilage and tendons.

Every year, the percentages of people around the world suffer from dysfunctional organs and organ failure caused by diseased and damaged tissue, this is increasing due to the rise of the aging population. Traumas and health issues such as strokes, heart attacks and joint problems can reduce the quality of someone’s life. Most current medicines are incapable of adequately repairing issues such as tissue and organ damage. This may be due to the problem that most medicines are made to prevent or to reduce further damage rather than repairing and regenerating the tissue all together. As an outcome, people suffering from these issues are left to live with damaged tissues which can lead to lower quality of life and throwing a lot of money on ongoing

I am writing my paper on amalgam history in dentistry. Amalgam was developed in England and France it consisted of silver, tin, copper, zinc, and mercury. It was not openly embraced by organized dentistry in America until the 1840s. The Crawcour brothers brought amalgam into the United States in 1833. Half of the people with dental restorations in upstate New York consisted of amalgam in 1844. The American Society of Dental Surgeons made all of the members to sign a pledge that restricted them from using mercury fillings, because at the time it was considered to be malpractice. That created the first dental amalgam war, but it ended in 1856 with cancelation of the association.

Professor Kostelecky, before starting this paper I didn’t have the slightest idea what an amalgam was or why it causes so much controversy in the realm of dentistry. The controversy originates from the material that primarily makes up amalgams; that material is mercury. Now that this debate has commenced, dentists, scientists, and corporate organizations everywhere are arguing whether the use of amalgams should be banned or should remain a growing practice. Because I plan to study dentistry in the future I figured this would be a good topic to prepare me for my future education.