Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ments, particularly of nanoparticles and nanotubes for periodontal
management, the materials developed such as the hollow nano-
spheres, core shell structures, nanocomposites, nanoporous mate-
rials, and nanomembranes will play a growing role in materials
development for the dental industry.
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1 Nanodentistry
Nanodentistry will make possible the maintenance of comprehensive
oral health by nanomaterials, biotechnology including tissue
engineering and nanorobotics. Freitas has described how medical
nanorobots might utilize speciic motility mechanisms to crawl
or swim through human body tissues with navigational precision,
acquire energy, sense and manipulate their surroundings, achieve
safe cytopenetration (e.g., pass through plasma membranes such as
the odontoblastic process without disrupting the cell), and employ
any of a multitude of techniques to monitor, interrupt, or alter nerve
impulse trafic in individual nerve cells, and in real time (Table 11.1)
[7].
The visions described above by Freitas may sound unlikely, but
recent advances in nanotechnological research and development
have made such applications theoretically possible [7, 9, 29].
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2 BiomimeticNanomaterials
A new method for altered enamel surface remineralization has been
proposed [8, 23, 25]. Dental caries is a widespread chronic disease
caused by glucolytic bioilms. It is hypothesized that nano-sized
hydroxylapatite crystallites occur in the oral cavity during extensive
physiological wear of the hierarchical structured enamel surface due
to dental abrasion and attrition. Modern bioinspired nanomaterials
in preventive dentistry containing nano-sized hydroxylapatite
particles have shown eficacy in reducing oral bioilm formation and
yield re-mineralizing effects [8].
In the last years, several oral health care compounds, tooth
pastes and mouth rinses were developed containing nano-sized
bioinspired apatite particles in combination with or without
proteinaceous additives like caseino-phosphopetides [23, 25]. The
eficacy of these compounds in dental prophylaxis is attributed to
