DT News - UK - New technology improves treatment and prevention of bacterial infection

Dental Tribune International

Thu. 25 June 2015

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BRISTOL, UK: Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a new technology that could increase protection against anti-bacterial and anti-fungal infection for weeks, months or even years. The new antimicrobial formulation is likely to have a significant impact across a number of areas, including dentistry, where one in seven composite fillings fail within seven years and 86 per cent of these failures are caused by bacterial infection.

Developed by Dr Michele Barbour and her research group in the university’s School of Oral and Dental Sciences, Pertinax is a new formulation of chlorhexidine. Chlorhexidine is a proven antimicrobial agent, used widely to prevent and treat a range of infections, but in its traditional formulation is effective for only a very short length of time.

Pertinax increases chlorhexidine’s uses by improving its persistence where it is applied. This innovation has won Barbour and Pertinax the £25,000 (approx. €35,300) Materials Science Venture Prize awarded by the Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers.

“Pertinax can greatly extend the active lifetime of chlorhexidine, enabling it to provide reliable protection against infection for very much longer than was previously possible. This opens up a range of new potential applications, as well as the opportunity to make existing products more effective,” said Barbour, senior lecturer in biomaterials in the school.

“Our initial focus will be in the dental market,” explained Barbour. “Research shows there is a clear need for long-acting antimicrobial products used in fillings and cements for crowns, bridges and orthodontic braces which will treat and prevent persistent bacterial infections over a much longer time frame than is currently possible.”

Owing to its novel formulation, Pertinax has an unusually low solubility, which can provide a continuous slow release over a controlled period. “This is a significant development which should help prevent some hard to treat infections affecting millions of people,” said Prof. Bill Bonfield, chairman of the Armourers and Brasiers Venture Prize judging panel. “Our prize looks to encourage scientific entrepreneurship in the UK and provide funding, which is often difficult to source, to help bring new developments like this to market.”

“We will be using the Venture Prize award money to help us develop a robust and scalable manufacturing process,” Barbour stated. “At the moment we are working with gram quantities and we need to scale this to kilogram and beyond for commercial application.”

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