PITTSBURGH, PA, USA: Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine are piecing together the process of tooth enamel biomineralization, which could lead to novel nanoscale approaches to developing biomaterials. The findings were reported online in the first week of August in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Dental enamel is the most mineralized tissue in the body and combines high hardness with resilience, said Elia Beniash, PhD, associate professor of oral biology, Pitt School of Dental Medicine. Those properties are the result of its unique structure, which resembles a complex ceramic microfabric.
“Enamel starts out as an organic gel that has tiny mineral crystals suspended in it,” Beniash said. “In our project, we recreated the early steps of enamel formation so that we could better understand the role of a key regulatory protein, called amelogenin, in this process.”
Beniash and his team found that amelogenin molecules self-assemble in stepwise fashion via small oligomeric building blocks into higher-order structures.
Just like connecting a series of dots, amelogenin assemblies stabilize tiny particles of calcium phosphate, which is the main mineral phase in enamel and bone, and organize them into parallel arrays. Once arranged, the nanoparticles fuse and crystallize to build the highly mineralized enamel structure.
“The relationship isn’t clear to us yet, but it seems that amelogenin’s ability to self-assemble is critical to its role in guiding the dots, called prenucleation clusters, into this complex, highly organized structure,” Beniash said. “This gives us insight into ways that we might use biologic molecules to help us build nanoscale minerals into novel materials, which is important for restorative dentistry and many other technologies.”
Co-authors include Ping-An Fang, PhD, and James F. Conway, PhD, both of Pitt; Henry C. Margolis, PhD, of the Forsyth Institute, Cambridge, Mass.; and James P. Simmer, DDS, PhD, of the University of Michigan.
The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
(Source: Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine)
PITTSBURGH & ANN HARBOR, Mich./CAMBRIDGE, Mass., USA: Enamel is known to be one of the hardest tissues in the human body. Researchers from the Forsyth ...
NEW YORK, N.Y., USA: Dental isolation is one of the bedrock challenges in dentistry. The mouth is a difficult environment in which to work. It is wet and ...
PRINCETON, N.J., USA: Researchers have developed a prototype for a graphene-based nanosensor that is able to detect pathogens even at extremely low ...
PHILADELPHIA, US: It was previously believed that Streptococcus mutans was the main microorganism responsible for dental caries. However, in a recent study,...
LOUISVILLE, Ky., USA: John Sauk, DDS, MS, dean of the University of Louisville School of Dentistry since 2007, will step down from his position at the end ...
BIDDEFORD, Maine: On Nov. 2, Maine residents voted yes in support of Question #2, which allows the issuance of a $5 million bond to increase access to ...
The bachelor’s of science in dental hygiene degree is becoming more difficult to obtain due to the closing of many traditional four-year programs. ...
One of the dental field’s biggest esthetic priorities, after restoring and preserving health, is enhancing the smile. In 1995, Dentistry Today published ...
The Isolite dryfield illuminator is an innovative dental isolation tool that combines the functions of light, suction and retraction into a single device, ...
Isolite Systems, maker of innovative dental isolation technology, announced its products have received new industry recognition. Dentistry Today magazine ...
Live webinar
Thu. 18 July 2024
8:00 PM EST (New York)
Live webinar
Tue. 6 August 2024
6:00 PM EST (New York)
Live webinar
Tue. 13 August 2024
7:00 PM EST (New York)
Live webinar
Wed. 14 August 2024
12:30 PM EST (New York)
Live webinar
Wed. 21 August 2024
9:00 AM EST (New York)
Dr. Jim Lai DMD, MSc(Perio), EdD, FRCD(C)
Live webinar
Wed. 28 August 2024
8:00 PM EST (New York)
Live webinar
Mon. 2 September 2024
5:00 AM EST (New York)
To post a reply please login or register