On May 13, Beijing time, according to foreign media reports, at present, scientists from the school of Dentistry and oral health sciences of McGill University in Canada have found a serious "cognitive gap" in the scientific literature. Although all studies have focused on the impact of long-term space travel on human health for many years, they seem to ignore the study of what will happen to astronauts' teeth?
Imagine a brave expedition to Mars on a long-term mission, and then gradually find that their teeth become fragile. They soon feel pain when chewing food. Eating every day becomes a painful thing, and it becomes more difficult to complete their duties
Could this worrying situation happen? We don't know. That's the problem. So far, we have known that microgravity can erode bone mass, shrink muscles, deteriorate vision, and have other harmful effects. Teeth are also the most prone to problems.
We now know that microgravity can erode bone mass, shrink muscles, deteriorate vision, and have other harmful effects. Teeth are also the most prone to problems.
In April, a research paper published in the journal JDR clinical and translational research said that in the long-term space missions to the moon and Mars, assessing and analyzing dental health risks is very important to avoid dental emergencies in an environment that does not support appropriate treatment.
Study authors Musa Goldsmith and S.V. Komarova systematically analyzed the published literature reports and studied the effects of space flight on teeth and facial bones. So far, they have found 32 cases of tooth and facial bone health risks, of which 26 cases were carried out in rodents and only 6 cases were in humans. Unfortunately, these experiments are usually observed for a short time, and most of them are carried out in the 20th century, It lasted less than three weeks, and it is crucial that no study has explored the impact of space flight on human teeth.
The researchers analyzed all rodent experiments and found that the space environment and experimental animals fed on earth eat the same food, and there is no statistical difference in tooth size and dentin thickness. However, these results are different. Dentin is a kind of calcified tissue, which forms a large part of teeth and is located under the outer enamel.
Many factors complicate the interpretation of the findings on the significance of human space travel. First, there were significant differences in the diet of rodents in the study. Some mice were fed paste food, others were fed rice with nutrients, and some mice were fed food sticks developed by NASA. In addition, the experimenters only observed the front teeth of rodents, that is, the front teeth of the mouth, and did not comprehensively observe the oral teeth. In fact, the front teeth of rodents are very different from human front teeth. The former grows continuously, and the enamel and dentin are formed by the continuous deposition of ameloblasts and odontoblasts.
The study shows that we really need to conduct long-term research on the impact of space flight on human teeth, which will help to avoid any potential problems that may occur during long-term travel to the moon or Mars. Perhaps this problem can be solved by diet (i.e. eating crisper and harder food) or drugs (special toothpaste). Researchers have put forward a theoretical treatment scheme for advanced space dental surgery.
It is said that Yuri romanenko, a former Soviet astronaut, suffered from a sudden toothache while performing a mission on the Mir space station. He was forced to endure it for two weeks before returning to earth as planned.
Now we don't want this to happen again. NASA now requires astronauts to maintain good oral hygiene before entering space, but regular brushing and flossing may not reduce the adverse effects of microgravity.
The researchers concluded that a specific understanding of the effects of microgravity... Is important to understand the risk of space travel to oral health and to develop strategies to mitigate this risk as humans continue to explore the universe.