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Uranium used in False Teeth ... until the 80's
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| Ilena Rose 2005-06-05, 10:53 pm |
| http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_107.html
Is uranium added to false teeth to give them a natural glow?
04-Oct-1996
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Dear Cecil:
About 15 years ago I read an obscure government publication on the use
of uranium in dental porcelain. It said uranium is added to dental
porcelain for cosmetic reasons, to make the porcelain more luminous
like natural teeth. It was estimated that this use of uranium causes
about 2,000 cases of cancer per year. I've since mentioned this to
many dentists, but none of them had ever heard of this.
Cecil, I'm counting on you to find out what's going on here.
Preferably before I need more dental work. And while you're at it,
what is the safest dental material? --Pearl E. White, Chicago
Cecil replies:
You read right, friend--no mean achievement in the age of MTV. In one
of those classic wacky moves, manufacturers once upon a time put
uranium in dental porcelain to give crowns and false teeth that
certain glow.
Real teeth have natural fluorescence. If you shine a black light on
your teeth they gleam a brilliant white. To give dental work the same
glow, the use of uranium in dental porcelain was patented in 1942.
The timing of this was suspicious. You have to wonder if those
Manhattan Project scientists, toiling over crucibles of hot uranium,
got to thinking, hey, if this atom-bomb thing flops, we can always go
into teeth.
The glow imparted to false teeth by uranium was not a consequence of
radioactivity. Uranium merely happens to fluoresce in the presence of
UV light. Fluorescence is harmless; lots of compounds do it. Uranium's
advantage was that it would survive the high heat of porcelain
manufacture.
Still, you did have the problem that uranium was radioactive. In the
wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it occurred to the dental-ceramics
industry that a substance that had destroyed cities might not be such
a good thing to use in somebody's mouth. Manufacturers discussed the
situation with the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950s. The debate
proceeded along the following lines. On the one hand, putting uranium
in people's mouths might possibly give them cancer and kill them. On
the other hand, their teeth looked great. It was an easy call. The
industry was given a federal exemption to continue using uranium.
In the 1970s some began to wonder if this had been the world's
smartest decision. The amount of uranium used in dental porcelain was
small--0.05 percent by weight in the U.S., 0.1 percent in Germany.
Nonetheless the fake teeth bombarded the oral mucosa with radiation
that was maybe eight times higher than normal background radiation.
None of the research I came across mentioned a specific number of
cancer deaths, but clearly this was not something you'd do for the
health benefits.
There was also the unavoidable fact that the aesthetic gains achieved
using uranium were slight. To see the teeth fluoresce you needed UV
light, and, as one study sniffily noted, "UV lamps are used mainly in
some discotheques and restaurants" frequented by "only a very small
fraction of the population with these types of restorations."
But come on, you're thinking. If even one guy with fake teeth looked
good in a disco, wasn't that worth a little risk?
Even that advantage turned out to be illusory, however. Though it was
claimed that the best uranium compounds replicated the white
fluorescence of natural teeth, research showed that some porcelain
teeth fluoresced red, violet, or bright yellow. In other words, not
only were you nuking your gums, when you opened your mouth you looked
like a neon sign.
That put the matter over the top. Numerous authorities urged that the
use of uranium in dental porcelain be discontinued, and in the
mid-1980s the federal exemption was revoked. Most dental porcelain
sold today is uranium-free.
What's the safest dental material? One guess: real teeth. Guaranteed
against silent horrors unless someone sneaks up and bites you. Brush
'em after every meal, because who knows what the dental industry will
think up next?
--CECIL ADAMS
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| clintonz@prodigy.net 2005-06-05, 10:53 pm |
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Ilena.
>
> The timing of this was suspicious. You have to wonder if those
> Manhattan Project scientists, toiling over crucibles of hot uranium,
> got to thinking, hey, if this atom-bomb thing flops, we can always go
> into teeth.
>
> The glow imparted to false teeth by uranium was not a consequence of
> radioactivity. Uranium merely happens to fluoresce in the presence of
> UV light. Fluorescence is harmless; lots of compounds do it. Uranium's
> advantage was that it would survive the high heat of porcelain
> manufacture.
>
> Still, you did have the problem that uranium was radioactive. In the
> wake of Hiroshima and Nagasaki it occurred to the dental-ceramics
> industry that a substance that had destroyed cities might not be such
> a good thing to use in somebody's mouth. Manufacturers discussed the
> situation with the Atomic Energy Commission in the 1950s. The debate
> proceeded along the following lines. On the one hand, putting uranium
> in people's mouths might possibly give them cancer and kill them. On
> the other hand, their teeth looked great. It was an easy call. The
> industry was given a federal exemption to continue using uranium.
>
Thanks for posting this. Suddenly it all makes sense, lead paint
lead pipes, cirgrettes, leaking mercury fillings, uranium dentures.
the human race is just too stupid not to poison itself.
> smartest decision. The amount of uranium used in dental porcelain was
> small--0.05 percent by weight in the U.S., 0.1 percent in Germany.
The dose makes the poison. What's a little uranium or Hg.
Whats a little smoke etc. Lets hope evolution speeds up
sometimes soon.
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| izwalker@yahoo.com 2005-06-06, 8:57 am |
| The sad thing is, this is very believeable. Im honestly suprised the
human race hasn't wiped itself out by some sheer stupidity. I bear
annoyance/mild hatred at my fellow human* not because they are stupid,
only because they don't HAVE to be stupid.
-isaac
* there are somedays i really wished i wasn't human...
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| is uranium-free.
>
> What's the safest dental material? One guess: real teeth. Guaranteed
> against silent horrors unless someone sneaks up and bites you. Brush
> 'em after every meal, because who knows what the dental industry will
> think up next?
>
> --CECIL ADAMS
Deplended uranium is much better, like those Nato idiots are bombardment in
last zears. It is jut the way how to menage uranium trash from nuclear
reactors. Why not to put it in teet?
The effect is the same!
All the best,
Proka
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| Vaughn 2005-06-06, 5:55 pm |
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"oN" <dixie@complete.yu> wrote in message news:d825bd$qej$1@news.eunet.yu...
> Deplended uranium is much better, like those Nato idiots are bombardment in
> last zears. It is jut the way how to menage uranium trash from nuclear
> reactors. Why not to put it in teet?
Hmmmm (the sound of Vaughn thinking)
Since depleted Uranium is denser than lead, and perhaps safer in the mouth
than lead, perhaps a lower plate with a depleted uranium framework would be
heavy enough to stay in place better? (Of course; ya gotta balance the possible
dangers against the benefits of the treatment, I would recommend the use of
plutonium for only the most stubborn cases)
Vaughn
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in[vbcol=seagreen]
>
> Hmmmm (the sound of Vaughn thinking)
>
> Since depleted Uranium is denser than lead, and perhaps safer in the
mouth
> than lead, perhaps a lower plate with a depleted uranium framework would
be
> heavy enough to stay in place better? (Of course; ya gotta balance the
possible
> dangers against the benefits of the treatment, I would recommend the use
of
> plutonium for only the most stubborn cases)
>
> Vaughn
>
Oh, and desinfectiom is also great score. No more carises !
All the best,
Proka
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