A 3-D image of a tooth filled with nanodiamond-enhanced gutta percha, and an individual gutta percha point. Credit: American Chemical Society/Dong-Keun Lee
Tiny particles strenthen the compound used to fill teeth, ward off infection. Nanodiamonds may help patients that have had the dreaded root canal. Dental researchers have developed a nanodiamond-reinforced version of gutta percha, the compound that is used to fill void spaces in dental root canals to prevent infection that can lead to tooth loss. Tested in patient-extracted teeth, the nanodiamond-embedded polymer was substantially stronger than conventional gutta percha. In addition, the scientists tested gutta percha with nanodiamonds that had been loaded with antibiotics and found that the compound effectively prevented bacterial infection.
Nanodiamonds are tiny particles formed as byproducts of diamond refining and mining. They have been widely explored for use in dentistry, cancer therapy, imaging and regenerative medicine, among other applications.
Each year, >15 million root canal procedures are performed in the US. Dentists’ goal is to save their patients’ teeth from infected dental “pulp” – the part of the tooth that includes blood vessels and nerve tissue. During a root canal, inflamed dental pulp is removed and the empty space is then filled in with a polymer called gutta percha, which is used in part because it does not react within the body. But some root canals don’t entirely remove the infection, and residual infection after root canals can lead to tooth loss.
METHOD: 1. UCLA team developed and tested 2 types of reinforced gutta percha: One strengthened with nanodiamonds and another strengthened with nanodiamonds that had been pre-loaded with antibiotics. Using conventional radiography and micro-computed tomography, or micro-CT, they showed that the nanodiamond-enhanced gutta percha could be used to fill the tooth. Like the traditional formulation, the nanodiamond-enhanced compound did leave small gaps in the canal -where harmful bacteria could grow – but the CT imaging showed that the enhanced material filled the space just as effectively as traditional gutta percha.
2. In the research’s 2nd phase, the scientists tested nanodiamonds that had been loaded with amoxicillin, a broad-spectrum antibiotic used to combat infection. The drug-reinforced nanodiamonds, when combined with the gutta percha, effectively prevented bacteria growth.
“The nanodiamond-enhanced gutta percha combines many desirable properties into a single platform, including vastly improved mechanical characteristics and the ability to combat bacterial infection following a root canal,” said Dong-Keun Lee, a postdoctoral scholar in Ho’s lab. During the next two years, the team plans optimize the formulation of the nanodiamond-reinforced gutta percha and begin clinical trials at UCLA. http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/nanodiamonds-might-prevent-tooth-loss-after-root-canals
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