Electricity may soon heal cavities without drill

Fillings for minor cavities may be a thing of the past. Researchers at King's College London are developing a procedure that uses low-frequency electrical currents to help teeth "self-heal" lesions, or cavities, without drilling. The technology, called "electrically accelerated and enhanced remineralization," could end fillings for early-stage lesions and moderate tooth decay within three years.

By the time a dentist identifies a cavity, he or she is seeing a tooth after it has lost minerals in the enamel and begun to decay.

Teeth can repair themselves by replacing those minerals with ones found in saliva or fluoride via a natural "remineralization" process.

King's College Professor Nigel Pitts, a dentist, said his team used electrical currents to help drive minerals into the tooth. The process would be painless and cost about as much as or less than a traditional filling, and it would take about as much time, Pitts said.

Pitts and partner Christopher Longbottom formed a company, Reminova, to raise money. Papers supporting the technology are expected to be published in journals in a few months. - Washington Post