Good news! Several decades too late for me! đ Dentists may not like it!
"An innovative gel that forms a layer over teeth and then recruits calcium and phosphate ions from saliva to build new enamel has the potential to change dental treatment. To date, we don't have any way to regenerate the tough outer layer of enamel on our teeth as it erodes with age. ...
a protein-based gel that can not only strengthen existing enamel but actually rebuild it. When applied to teeth, much like common fluoride treatment in the dentist's chair, it forms a thin layer that seeps into the bone to patch up any holes or cracks. But then it also forms a type of scaffolding that attracts those other ions, which promotes further mineral "growth" through a process known as epitaxial mineralization. The new mineral deposits fuse with existing tissue to form what is essentially new enamel. ..."
From the abstract:
"Tooth enamel is characterised by an intricate hierarchical organization of apatite nanocrystals that bestows high stiffness, hardness, and fracture toughness. However, enamel does not possess the ability to regenerate, and achieving the artificial restoration of its microstructure and mechanical properties in clinical settings has proven challenging.
To tackle this issue, we engineer a tuneable and resilient supramolecular matrix based on elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) that imitates the structure and function of the enamel-developing matrix.
When applied as a coating on the surface of teeth exhibiting different levels of erosion, the matrix is stable and can trigger epitaxial growth of apatite nanocrystals, recreating the microarchitecture of the different anatomical regions of enamel and restoring the mechanical properties.
The study demonstrates the translational potential of our mineralising technology for treating loss of enamel in clinical settings such as the treatment of enamel erosion and dental hypersensitivity."
New gel restores dental enamel and could revolutionise tooth repair (original news release)
Biomimetic supramolecular protein matrix restores structure and properties of human dental enamel (open access)
Electron microscopy images of a tooth with demineralised enamel showing eroded apatite crystals (left) and a similar demineralised tooth after a 2-week treatment showing epitaxially regenerated enamel crystals (right).
Fig. 1: ELR fibril formation and mineralisation capacity.
No comments:
Post a Comment