Dental diseases are a global health issue affecting a large percentage of the population despite the widespread use of fluoride and other preventive treatments. They are associated with a variety of clinical conditions, including incipient caries, dentinal hypersensitivity, gum recession and gingivitis. Current dental therapies mostly rely on replacement of the defective hard tissues with synthetic restorative dental materials with long-term success being still limited and often causing post-therapeutic problems of gingival inflammation, secondary caries formation, and even tooth loss. The primary reasons of the failure of the dental restoration materials are: (i) Limited ability to reinstate the structure-function relation of the lost tissue, (ii) Lack the structural and functional integration (interface problem), (iii) Low thermal, mechanical, and chemical durability, and (iv) Tissue toxicity and low biocompatibility. Following the lessons from biology where proteins guide tissue formation, we developed a peptide-based biomimetic remineralization treatment to restore demineralized dental hard tissues. First a set of short sequences of peptides were derived from amelogenin (the major protein in enamel development) i.e., amelogenin-derived peptides (ADPs), through a design process that includes biocombinatorial selection, bioinformatics, computational simulations, and iterative binding and mineralization assays. The ADPs were then used to guide remineralization <i>in vitro</i> on artificially demineralized enamel, dentin and cementum of the extracted human molars under simulated physiological conditions. In both aqueous solution and gel formulation-based treatment modalities, the peptide treated test groups displayed structure and morphology with well-integrated interfaces exhibiting local mechanical properties mimicking the restored tissues similar to dentin-enamel junction (DEJ). The highly potent materials and methods developed pose to drastically alter the current dental health care by highly effective over-the-counter and clinical products and procedures in restorative and cosmetic dentistry as well as in preventive daily oral health care.

Biomimetic tooth repair: Amelogenin-derived peptide enables <i>in vitro</i> remineralization of human enamel and dentin

2019 Spring National Meeting

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Biomimetic tooth repair: Amelogenin-derived peptide enables in vitro remineralization of human enamel and dentin