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TORONTO, Canada: Although their success rate has been reported as about 98 percent, dental implants can fail owing to biological and technical issues over time. In many cases, the body’s inflammatory response causes rejection. Canadian research has now presented a new implant coating that helps disrupt this immune mechanism to prevent both the risk of implant failure and the need for anti-inflammatory drugs.
The disruptive new anti-inflammatory polymer was developed by Dr. Kyle Battiston, a postdoctoral fellow at the Faculty of Dentistry and a recent graduate from the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. It was originally designed as a tissue-engineering scaffold that allows tissue engineers to grow cells successfully.
Battiston and his colleagues were able to coat implants with the biomaterial, which is derived from a family of polymers found to reduce inflammation, specifically when it interacts with white blood cells, and discovered that the coating calms the body’s immune response.
“We’ve learned this family of materials can retain its anti-inflammatory character while adapting diverse physical properties,” said Battiston. The material could thus be used for a wide variety of medical treatments.
Battiston plans to market the coating through his new start-up company KSP2 within the next five years.
According to the American Academy of Implant Dentistry, 3 million Americans already have dental implants and this number is growing by 500,000 a year. About 10 percent of all U.S. dentists place implants today. The association estimates that the U.S. and European market for dental implants will reach $4.2 billion by 2022.
From http://www.dental-tribune.com
