Artificial enamel is even stronger than real teeth

Good news! For those of us who had their share of cavities this what we have been waiting for! 

Unfortunately, it may take a while for a product to become available at your dentist.

"... Mimicking enamel in the lab is incredibly challenging due to its complex structure of interwoven hydroxyapatite nanocrystals, which are one-thousandth the thickness of human hair. These crystals are arranged in wires, which become coated in magnesium by enamel-producing cells, and then are woven together into a very strong mesh, which is further organized into twists and bunches. ..."

"... In the past, researchers have tried using peptides—short chains of amino acids like the ones cells use to build proteins—to guide the formation of the crystalline wires. But they haven’t been able to arrange the wires into the complex structures required for enamel’s elasticity and hardness. ...
The researchers didn’t test how well it bonds to natural enamel, which is crucial for tooth repair. And the method requires the raw materials be heated to 300˚C, carefully frozen, and then cut into shape with a diamond saw, which may be difficult (or impossible) in most dentist offices. ..."

"Artificial enamel analog

Tooth enamel is the thin outer layer of our teeth and is the hardest biological material in the human body. Zhao et al. engineered an enamel analog consisting of assembled hydroxyapatite nanowires with amorphous intergranular phase segments aligned using scalable, dual-directional freezing in the presence of polyvinyl alcohol. The artificial tooth enamel was designed to closely mimic the composition of the natural material by copying the shapes and sizes of the components found biologically and the organization of their interfaces ..."

Artificial enamel is even stronger than real teeth When enamel starts wearing off, cavities are not far behind. This new material could finally bring dentistry in the 21st century.

New artificial enamel is harder and more durable than the real thing Novel material mimics enamel’s complex structure with stronger components

Multiscale engineered artificial tooth enamel (no public access)