Kids Web Japan

Let’s eat our food with healthy teeth!

People are able to eat food thanks to the strong teeth we have in our mouths. When we lose our teeth due to cavities or aging, we aren’t able to eat the foods we love anymore. Teeth aren’t just for chewing food, they also play a big part in allowing us to enjoy the flavor of food.

（C）THREE BRACKETS Corporation.

A bank for preserving my teeth?

It goes without saying that in order to maintain healthy teeth for a lifetime, one must brush regularly and take care of one’s teeth. However, sometimes regardless of one’s efforts cavities appear, and teeth can still be lost due to other mishaps. To protect against this, it is possible to preserve teeth removed during the course of corrective surgery in the “Teeth Bank”. This system uses technology used in food preservation, and removed teeth are preserved at minus 150 degrees Celsius for use up to 40 years later. The `Teeth Bank”, which is located in Japan’s Hiroshima University, was the first place in the world to have pioneered and developed these techniques. The on-campus facilities are run in the form of a venture business which administrates these services. Please note that only wisdom teeth and premolars can be preserved, and teeth must be in a condition in which the root systems are still functional and viable.

（C）THREE BRACKETS Corporation.

With a tooth transplant, it’s possible to regain your sense of “bite”!

（C）THREE BRACKETS Corporation.

Until now, tooth replacement treatments were generally based on false teeth or artificially made implants. However, using the “Teeth Bank”, it is possible to transplant a lost tooth with your own, previously deposited tooth. The greatest merit to a tooth transplant is the fact that with a real tooth, rejuvenation of the nerves and blood vessels of the tooth is made possible, and the sense of “bite” is largely the same as that of the lost tooth (about 70%). By changing the shape of a deposited wisdom tooth it is possible to replace molars and premolars, whereas deposited premolars can replace any tooth except lower incisors.

While the “Teeth Bank” may not be the most commonplace treatment method today, there may come a day in the near future where it is common knowledge to deposit teeth in the bank!

(Updated in July 2009）