New bioactive dental filling material promises to be teeth-friendly
Tech Explorist: A team of Indian scientists has developed a new technique that promises to help produce bioactive dental filling materials which will take much lesser time for the formation of new bone tissues.
Bioactive dental filling materials are gaining popularity as they last longer, restore minerals in teeth and slow down secondary tooth decay more effectively. Previously, a technique called melt-derived method was used. The materials were produced without crystallization and were of micron size.
Now scientists have synthesized a crystallization induced, strontium-based nano-sized material using a simpler sol-gel assisted microwave method.
The effect of crystallization on the product and its reactivity is the main focus of the findings.
Researchers claim that compared with commercially available micron-level materials the newly synthesized nano-structured materials have a higher rate of mineralization of bone apatite, and thus cutting down on the time taken for the formation of new bone tissues.
Normally calcium is used for the production of biomaterials.
In the present work, scientists synthesized nano-bioactive materials with the same base composition as that for commercially available biomaterial called Bioglass 45S5 but by substituting calcium with strontium and controlling the particle size at the nano-scale.
The sol-gel assisted microwave method, which was employed for the process, involves the conversion of monomers into a colloidal suspension ‘sol’, which is polymerized to form the ‘gel’ which is then heated at high temperature to give the final solid product.
Researchers said the new material acted as a better agent for occluding or blocking exposed dentin tubules and for decreasing hypersensitivity more effectively. It can kill microorganisms causing tooth decay faster and can also be used for bone regeneration applications, they added.