Provoking regrowth of tooth enamel by mimicking some of its structure appears to be a going concern in dental research, if judging from this paper and another similar approach using keratin. At the high level, the idea is to coat damaged enamel with material that encourages the chemical mineralization process that takes place during enamel formation. Interestingly, the specific molecular structures demonstrated here allow this process to take place even when applied to exposed dentin. We can hope that cavities and fillings will soon enough be a thing of the past.
Tooth enamel is characterised by an intricate hierarchical organization of apatite nanocrystals that bestows high stiffness, hardness, and fracture toughness. However, enamel does not possess the ability to regenerate, and achieving the artificial restoration of its microstructure and mechanical properties in clinical settings has proven challenging.
To tackle this issue, we engineer a tuneable and resilient supramolecular matrix based on elastin-like recombinamers (ELRs) that imitates the structure and function of the enamel-developing matrix. When applied as a coating on the surface of teeth exhibiting different levels of erosion, the matrix is stable and can trigger epitaxial growth of apatite nanocrystals, recreating the microarchitecture of the different anatomical regions of enamel and restoring the mechanical properties.
The study demonstrates the translational potential of our mineralising technology for treating loss of enamel in clinical settings such as the treatment of enamel erosion and dental hypersensitivity.
