Antibacterial dental implants
Dutch printed teeth with antibacterial effect
Vasily Sychev, N+1
Researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have developed a material from which it is possible to print dental implants that destroy bacteria. The scientists' work is published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials (Yue et al., 3D-Printable Antimicrobial Composite Resins), and its summary is given by New Scientist (3D printed teeth to keep your mouth free of bacteria). The new material is a plastic mass that hardens under ultraviolet radiation.
The developers took the usual dental material from which dentures, dental implants and fillings are made and mixed it with quaternary ammonium salts. These salts have a positive charge. When bacteria get on the implant, the positive charge destroys the negatively charged membrane of the bacteria and they die.
Thanks to the use of three-dimensional scanning technology, researchers can obtain a three-dimensional model of the patient's teeth. This model is used to print a dental prosthesis, which, after curing with ultraviolet light, can be implanted into the patient. According to the researchers, the new material does not pose a danger to the patient's own cells.
During the research, the scientists printed several teeth and orthodontic braces, using ordinary dental plastic and a material with the addition of quaternary ammonium salts. These samples were then placed in cups with saliva containing Streptococcus mutans bacteria that cause caries.
According to the results of the research, it turned out that only one percent of bacteria died in cups with conventional implants. 99 percent of Streptococcus mutans have already died in the cups in which prostheses made of the new material were placed. Scientists intend to conduct a number of studies to prove the suitability of the new material for the manufacture of dentures.
The researchers believe that the new material will allow patients to reduce the number of visits to the dentist. Every year, people with dentures spend millions of dollars to repair implants damaged by bacteria.
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21.10.2015