DT News - UK - New synthetic biomaterials could change practice of dentistry

Dental Tribune International

Wed. 6 July 2016

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NOTTINGHAM, UK: Current dental materials do not interface well with biological tissues. Researchers at the University of Nottingham and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University in the US have thus now developed light-curable therapeutic synthetic biomaterials for dental treatment that support native dental stem cells for dentinal tissue repair and regeneration. This approach could significantly influence the practice of dentistry and establish a new paradigm for dental treatment.

In particular, the researchers believe that the new biomaterials could be used in dental fillings to help heal teeth damaged by dental disease or dental surgery.

The research won second prize in the materials category in the 2016 Royal Society of Chemistry’s Emerging Technologies Competition, which aims to accelerate the commercialisation of innovative technologies in the areas of health and well-being, energy and the environment, food and water, and materials. The group will receive tailored business support from multinational partner companies, as well as business training, media support and a cash prize of £3,000 (€3,500).

“Existing dental fillings are toxic to cells and are therefore incompatible with pulp tissue inside the tooth. In cases of dental pulp disease and injury a root canal is typically performed to remove the infected tissues,” said Dr Adam Celiz, Marie Curie Research Fellow at the University of Nottingham. “We have designed synthetic biomaterials that can be used similarly to dental fillings but can be placed in direct contact with pulp tissue to stimulate the native stem cell population for repair and regeneration of pulp tissue and the surrounding dentin. Our approach has great promise to impact the dental field and this prize provides a great platform to develop this technology further with industrial partners.”

“These materials may provide an effective and practical approach to allow a patient to regenerate components of their own teeth,” added David Mooney, Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering.

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