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Joan Stephenson, PhD

JAMA. 2005;293:1316.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 94 words of the full text and any section headings.

Current treatment of early dental lesions is less than ideal because a disproportionate amount of healthy tooth must be excavated to allow fillings to stick. Japanese researchers have developed a possible tooth-sparing alternative: a dental paste of synthetic tooth (Ha et al. Nature. 2005;433:819).

The paste contains modified hydroxyapatite, a material that is similar to natural tooth enamel. The researchers said that the paste rapidly and seamlessly repairs early caries lesions with minimal loss of the natural tooth and can also help prevent future lesions by strengthening the natural enamel.