New Material for Dental Implants
A patient recently brought an article from Smithsonian.com about a new dental material for dental implants. Check the article out at: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/these-3d-printed-teeth-fight-bacteria-180957030/.
Research is being conducted in the Netherlands, with a goal of constructing an implant that, when the harmful bacteria (usually Streptococcus mutans) make contact with the dental material, the bacteria will die.
On the positive side, it would be nice to have a bacteria-specific material that will kill the harmful bacteria. But part of the research, of course, will be to evaluate the effect that these materials have on the good bacteria as well as the rest of the body. It’s also important to see how these materials interact with other materials that one puts in their mouth, like food, toothpaste, etc. And as with all dental materials, it has to hold up for a long period of time. This is the kind of finding that could once again revolutionize the materials that we will be using for all restorative (fillings and crowns) dental work.