New research from ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces has created an innovative hydrogel treatment. The gel breaks apart cavity forming bio-films and whitens teeth without damage.
Your smile is often the first thing people notice when they meet you. So, the importance of having a healthy smile and aesthetically pleasing smile cannot be underestimated.
The need for an aesthetic smile has created a market for whitening toothpastes and procedures, but these can be damaging to tooth enamel or lead to cavities.
Many professional treatments utilise hydrogen peroxide-containing gels and blue light, to produce a chemical reaction that removes stains. While effective, this combination can break down enamel.
Researchers wanted to eliminate these side effects by utilising greenlight, as a safer alternative, to whiten and prevent cavities.
The process requires the creation of a thick mixture of bismuth oxychloride nanoparticles, copper oxide nanoparticles and sodium alginate. The teeth stuck to a slide were then evenly coated in the mixture as a control. Afterwards, the mixture was tested on teeth that had been stained with coffee, tea, blueberry juice and soy sauce.
Finally, the teeth were treated with the green light and the teeth got brighter.
The next stage was to demonstrate that the formula worked on teeth in vivo. So, the researchers tested the method on mice whose mouths were treated with cavity-forming bacteria. Subsequent treatment with the hydrogel and greenlight prevented moderate and deep cavity formation.