Student Education News

Novel treatment for early stage tooth decay

Professor Sheena Radford has undertook research to determine how peptides self-aggregate and form fibrils under certain conditions.

Early stage tooth decay is a widespread problem in developing countries. The conventional treatment is to "drill and fill" the cavities, which is expensive for Health Services, and generally unpopular with patients.

Finding novel ways to avoid "drilling and filling", and also finding ways to treat decay at the very early stages is of great interest to patients, dental practitioners and dentists. Fundamental research carried out in the Faculty of Biological Sciences by Professor Sheena Radford led to a discovery which forms the basis of a novel treatment for early stage dental decay which is quick and completely painless.

Professor Radford's research demonstrated how novel peptides (small sections of protein molecules) can self-assemble and form nanofibrils under certain conditions. These nanofibrils have distinctive properties which enable them to be used in a number of different biotechnological applications, including a novel treatment for dental decay.

Colleagues at the Leeds Dental Institute, who have expertise in the tooth re-mineralisation process, have taken Professor Radford's original research findings, and have shown that the self-assembling peptides can be formulated into a preparation which is capable of repairing early stage dental decay. This research attracted the attention of a business entrepreneur in Switzerland, who founded a company to commercialise these peptides.

The Swiss company has developed a formulation for the self-assembling peptides which can be applied in liquid form to an area of tooth decay. On contact with the tooth, the self-assembling peptides form nanofibrils, which function as a matrix to enable natural re-mineralisation of the tooth to occur, and hence repair of the decay. The product is now licenced for use, and the first early stage clinical trials in humans have been completed. The company is now in the process of large scale production of the product, and has started to make the product available in selected dental practices.

29th October 2012