(By Dr. Joseph D. Lim and Dr. Kenneth Lester Lim, BS-MMG, DDM, MSc-OI)
ASTRONOMERS have detected far out in space an element similar to that found in human teeth and bones.
For the first time, they have detected the element fluorine in a galaxy so far away that it takes light from it to travel 12 billion years before reaching earth telescopes. That’s 12 billion light years away.
“The elements found across our solar system, on Earth and even in our own bodies originated inside the cores of stars, which released them in stellar explosions,” CNN reported.
Exploding stars created the calcium in human bones and teeth, according to the study published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
“We have shown that Wolf-Rayet stars, which are among the most massive stars known and can explode violently as they reach the end of their lives, help us, in a way, to maintain good dental health,” said Maximilien Franco, the study’s lead author and an astrophysics postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.
“We all know about fluorine because the toothpaste we use every day contains it in the form of fluoride,” she said in a press statement
The astronomers detected the element by using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array of telescopes in Chile.
Fluorine was detected as hydrogen fluoride in gas clouds of the NGP-190387 galaxy, CNN said. “The light from this galaxy has traveled over 12 billion years to reach us, so astronomers view the galaxy as it appeared when the universe was only about 1.4 billion years old,” CNN reported.
The stars that released fluorine most likely existed for just a short time, give and take a few million years.
Finding fluorine in such a distant galaxy expands the reach of the element, according to CNN. “Prior to this discovery, it had only been detected in our Milky Way galaxy and its neighbors, as well as in some distant quasars, or bright celestial objects that are powered by supermassive black hole engines at the center of some galaxies.”
“This detection places fluorine as an element that existed early on in the universe,” CNN said.
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Dr. Joseph D. Lim is the former Associate Dean of the College of Dentistry, University of the East; former Dean, College of Dentistry, National University; Past President and Honorary Fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy; Honorary Fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists; and Honorary Life Member of the Thai Association of Dental Implantology. For questions on dental health, e-mail jdlim2008@gmail.com or text 0917-8591515.
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Dr. Kenneth Lester Lim, BS-MMG, DDM, MSc-OI, graduated Doctor of Dental Medicine, University of the Philippines College of Dentistry, Manila, 2011; Bachelor of Science in Marketing Management, De la Salle University, Manila, 2002; and Master of Science (MSc.) in Oral Implantology, Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany, 2019. He is an Associate professor; Fellow, International Congress of Oral Implantologists; Member, American Academy of Implant Dentistry and Philippine College of Oral Implantologists. For questions on dental health, e-mail limdentalcenter@gmail.com/PN
