Universal Medicine

When teeth become damaged they can be restored by dentists through treatments such as fillings, crowns, veneers, inlays, onlays and root fillings. The level of the damage determines the form of treatment needed. Fillings Fillings are used to fill in cavities that are caused by tooth decay. The treatment involves injecting a local anaesthetic (unless the patient would prefer without) and then drilling out the decayed or weakened parts of the tooth and cleaning the cavity so the filling can be placed. Fillings available on the NHS are composite resin, glass ionomer or amalgam. Amalgam fillings consist of mercury, silver, tin and copper. It is durable, long lasting, cheap and self-curing. But it has a silver colour which looks unnatural in the mouth. There has been controversy over the fact it releases low levels of mercury vapour which can be inhaled and high levels of mercury vapour exposure can be toxic. However, fillings only use a small amount and extensive research ha...

Type O blood donors may not be the the only universal donors in the near future due to gut bacteria having the potential to transform type A and B blood into O blood. This could be a life saving service in events where Type O blood isn’t readily available. Blood types are determined by the presence or absence of certain antigens - a toxin or other foreign substance which induces an immune response in the body, especially the production of antibodies. Type A - A antigens on red blood cells, B antibodies in the plasma Type B - B antigens on the red blood cells, A antibodies Type AB - both A and B antigens on the red blood cells but neither A or B antibodies in the plasma Type O - neither A or B antigens on the red blood cells and both A and B antibodies in the plasma Our immune systems are individual and adapted to our blood types so receiving the wrong blood types brings life threatening risks. These red blood cells can enter our circulation in two different ways - blood trans...