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BETHESDA, Md., USA: The National Institutes of Health, a U.S. medical research agency, has announced that it will award $2.8 million this year to six research projects to develop a longer-lasting dental composite. The five-year grant will allow scientists throughout the country to work on expanding the service life of dental composites.
According to the NIH, dentists place more than 122 million dental composites per year in the U.S. alone. However, composites fail and must be replaced on average in less than eight years, although there have been major advances over the past decade in chemistry, microbiology, imaging and several other potentially important research areas, explained Dr. Martha Somerman, director of the NIH's National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). "The time is right scientifically to develop the next-generation dental composite," she said.
Today, the majority of dental composites still employ methacrylate monomer, which may work together with certain microorganisms in the mouth when polymerized and thus cause a recurrence of decay in the repaired tooth, the NIH stated.
"Bacteria have learned to colonize virtually every organic and inorganic surface on our planet," said Dr. James Drummond, director of NIDCR's Dental and Biomaterials Program. "But little is known about how oral bacteria interact with a dental composite. It is critical to determine whether and to what extent oral bacteria contribute to the aging, the mechanical fatigue, and ultimately the failure of composite fillings."
The grant recipients are the University of Colorado, the University of Texas Health Science Center, the American Dental Association, the Oregon Health and Science University, and the University of Michigan School of Dentistry, whose material scientists, polymer chemists and microbiologists are currently exploring new materials and additives for dental composites.
