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Claudia Salwiczek DTI ERLANGEN/LEIPZIG, Ger- many: The brain is not able to discriminate between a painful upper tooth and a painful lower tooth,researchersfound.There- sults of a new imaging study, which will be published in the journal Pain, may help devise better treatments for acute tooth pain, such as cavities or infec- tions, and more chronic condi- tionslikephantompainofatooth after it has been removed. The researchers led by Prof Clemens Forster of the Univer- sity of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany analysed the brain ac- tivity in healthy volunteers as they experienced tooth pain. By delivering short electrical pul- ses to either the upper left or the lower left canine tooth, a painful sensation similar to that felt when biting into an ice cube was triggered. To see how the brain respondstopainemanatingfrom different teeth, the researchers used functional magnetic reso- nance imaging (fMRI) to monitor changes in activity when the upper or the lower tooth was stimulated. “At the beginning, we expec- ted a good difference, but that was not the case,” Forster stated. Many brain regions responded to top and bottom tooth pain— carried by signals from two distinct branches of a fibre called the trigeminal nerve—in the same way. The maxillary branch (V2) carries pain signals from the upper jaw, and the mandibular branch (V3) carries pain signals from the lower jaw. The researchers found that regions in the cerebral cortex, including the somatosensory cortex, the insular cortex and the cingulate cortex, all behaved similarly for both toothaches. These brain regions are known toplayimportantrolesinthepain projection system, yet none showed major differences be- tween the two toothaches. “The activation was more or less the same,” Forster said, although, he added, “their experiments might have missed subtle differences that could account for why some tooth pain can be localised.” Because the same regions were active in both toothaches, the brain—and the person— couldn’t tell where the pain was coming from. “Dentists should be aware that patients aren’t al- ways able to locate the pain”, Forster says. “There are physio- logical and anatomical reasons for that.” DT News DeNtaltribuNe|april-June, 20102 International Imprint Publisher Torsten Oemus t.oemus@dental-tribune.com Chairman DT India Jitendar P. Vij jaypee@jaypeebrothers.com Director P. N. Venkatraman venkatraman@jaypeebrothers.com Chief Editor Dr. Naren Aggarwal naren.aggarwal@jaypeebrothers.com Editor Dr. Isha Goel isha.goel@jaypeebrothers.com Editorial Consultants Dr. Gurkeerat Singh Dr. Amit Garg Dental Tribune India Publishedby:JaypeeBrothersMedical Publishers(P) Ltd. 4838/24, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi 110002, India Phone: +91 11 43574357 e-mail:jaypee@jaypeebrothers.com Website:www.jaypeebrothers.com DENTALTRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper  India Edition Published by Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd.,India ©2010,DentalTribuneInternationalGmbH.Allrightsreserved. Dental Tribune India makes every effort to report clinical information and manufacturer’s product news accurately, but cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims, or for typographical errors. The publishers also do not assume responsibility for product names or claims, or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Dental Tribune International. BDZ/0909/04 No more dental colleges in the country The Dental Council of India (DCI) has decided not to sanc- tion new dental colleges, any- where in the country for the next five years, to regulate dental education and the dental profession. This announce- ment was made by DCI chief Dr Anil Kohli, who was in Manga- lore to attend the silver jubilee celebrationofABShettyMemo- rialInstituteofDentalSciences. “It is imperative to maintain quality in every sphere of life,” DrKohlisaid.“Thefieldofmed- ical sciences assumes far grea- terimportancethaneverbefore in this age of change,” he said, adding that “preserving quality of education is of paramount importance.” “Rather than sanctioning new dental col- leges, DCI will focus its energy on ensuring that quality dental education is imparted to stu- dentsinexistingdentalcolleges in India,” he added. Indigenous implants will be a lot cheaper A report, published in The Times of India says that the Maulana Azad Institute of Dental Sciences (MAIDS), under the New Millennium Indian Technology Leadership Initiative by the Ministry of Science and Technology, has successfully developed a new indigenous dental implant, which will cost between Rs 2,000 and 3000. DrMaheshVerma,principal investigator of the project, said that a team of doctors, from MAIDS, conceptualized & desi- gned the outline for the implant which has been fabricated by IIT Delhi engineers. “Five human trials of the indigenous implant, fabricated in India, have been successfully com- pleted,” he added. The micro CT analysis, to assess the per- centage and quality of osseoin- tegration of implant in the trial, conducted on rabbits was done at Trivandrum-based research institute have also shown positive results. The dental implants, impor- ted from countries like US and Israel, cost up to Rs 20,000. The indigenous implants are expec-ted to provide a cheaper solution to wider loser implants in India. News in brief Isha Goel DT India New Delhi, India: A team of scientists at the Bio Science Research Collaborative, at Rice University, in Houston, US, has developed anano-bio-chip (NBC) sensor technique that analyzes specimens from brush biopsies of lesions to detect oral cancer. The nano-bio-chip integrates multiple laboratory processes into a single microfluidic platform: cell separation/capture on the membrane filter, biomarker immunolabeling and cytoche- mical staining, and fluorescent imaging and analysis. According to this pilot study, published in the Journal Cancer Prevention Research, the researchers com- pared results of traditional diag- nostic test, and those obtained with the NBC, to find that the diagnostic NBC had comparable success rate with 97 percent sensitivity in detecting oral can- cer, and 93 percent specificity in detecting which patients had malignant or premalignant lesions. The device will undergo a more extensive clinical trial involving 500 patients in Hous- ton, San Antonio, and the U.K., which could lead to an application for FDA approval in two to five years. Oral cancer is among the ten most common cancers worldwide with a high morta- lity rate. According to a WHO survey report, India has the highest number of oral cancer cases in the world, out of which 90 percent were due to tobacco related diseases, leading to 2,200 deaths each day. The 5- year survival rate of 50 percent, among patients with oral cancer, has remained unchanged for the past 50 years as most cases are diagnosed in the advanced stages. This minimally invasive procedure requires just a little brush of the lesion with a tooth- brush-like instrument instead of an invasive, painful biopsy, and can deliver results with in 15 mins. “One of the key discoveries in this paper is to show that the miniaturized, noninvasive approach produces about the same result as the pathologists do," study leader John McDevitt said in a statement. The Rice University has received a US $2 million grant from the National Institute for Dental & Craniofacial Research Division of the National Insti- tutes of Health for their work. DT Nano-Bio-Chip detects oral cancer Brain unable to localise tooth pain Photo courtesy of Textbook of Oral Pathlogy by Harsh Mohan.