Interreg Healthy Teeth - Technological Innovations for Healthy Teeth

Innovative technologies will be developed to treat periodontitis: a disease which is estimated to affect > 1.5 million citizens and to cause > 4 Billion Eur health care costs per year in our FWVL Interreg region.

Periodontitis is the first cause for tooth loss in adults and has important consequences for the quality of life of the patients. A person without teeth is disabled and excluded from normal life, leading to loneliness, depression and reduced life time expectancy. Periodontitis is caused by “bad” bacteria, which start forming a biofilm at the interface of tooth–gingiva. This film is difficult to eliminate by tooth brushing. The “bad” bacteria secrete substances, which are aggressing the gingiva. The body reacts with a local inflammation, and the attachment “tooth-gingiva” gets partially lost. Consequently, a pocket is formed, allowing the “bad” bacteria to further develop, the inflammation worsens and the periodontal pockets become deeper. At advanced stages, also the bone is attacked, into which the teeth are anchored.

To effectively treat periodontitis, HEALTHY TEETH will address all 3 targets:

1) the “bad” bacteria,

2) the inflamed gingiva, and

3) bone loss.

To be able to do so, highly complementary skills and knowhow are required. Importantly, our FWVL project joins the forces of: a) clinicians, who are experts in periodontitis, b) chemists, specialized in the development of novel biomaterials; c) pharmacists and material scientists, providing the knowledge to develop new medical devices/drug products, d) engineers, able to develop simplified in vitro tests for the identification of the best drugs, and e) companies,  translating the innovative technologies into real life products.

The current standard treatment of periodontitis is the mechanical removal of the bacterial biofilms, using pointed, metal instruments. However, it is impossible to remove 100% of the bacteria and the remaining ones colonize the periodontal pockets again. Thus, the disease persists. This is unfortunate, because drugs are known, with promising potential to eradicate the “bad” bacteria, act against the inflammation and help repairing the bone tissue. But the delivery of these drugs is a yet unmet challenge: If administered orally, or injected into the blood, the drug concentrations in the rest of the body can be high and cause undesired toxic side effects. However, the drug does not reach its target site to a sufficient extent, because it hardly partitions from the blood into the periodontal pocket. In addition, the low amounts arriving at the target site are rapidly eliminated by the flow of gingival fluid. To overcome this problem, systems with time-controlled drug release in the pocket have been proposed. However, currently available products suffer from “accidental premature expulsion” from the site of action, because the materials they are made of, are not sufficiently sticky and the size & geometry of the products do not fit the patient’s pocket (each pocket is unique).

HEALTHY TEETH aims at overcoming these shortages by the development of:

• Innovative materials, which are liquid and can easily be injected into a dental pocket: The liquid spreads throughout the cavity and solidifies upon exposure to light. The formed solid is highly sticky.
• Novel in-situ forming implants based on these liquids: The drug is incorporated into the new biomaterials and gets entrapped in the device upon hardening in the pocket. The biomaterial subsequently controls drug release during about 2 weeks. Accidental expulsion from the pocket is avoided due to the perfect implant fitting into the pocket and stickiness of the new material.
• New products repairing small/moderate bone defects: Such products for veterinary use are commercialised, but free of drugs. This project will improve the efficacy of these systems, adding drugs favoring tissue regeneration and acting against inflammation.
• Innovative “bioinks” for the 3D printing of customized implants: The company Bio Inx (project partner) is specialized in the manufacturing and commercialization of inks, which can be 3D printed.
• Novel 3D printed implants for the treatment of large bone defects in patients suffering from severe periodontitis: Importantly, they will be designed to match the specific needs of each patient. Customized, mechanically strong implants are required in these cases.
• New in vitro tests to identify the best drug and release kinetics to treat the patient (“lab on a chip”).

More infos

For more information, please visit the project’s website at: https://www.healthyteeth-project.fr