Caries can be prevented by a gel that restores tooth enamel
Enamel protects teeth from damage, but breaks down easily
Agrobacter/Getty Images
The gel uses chemicals found in saliva to repair and replenish tooth enamel, which may prevent people from developing cavities that require fillings.
Enamel – the hard, shiny layer on the surface of teeth – protects the sensitive inner layers from wear, acids and bacteria. “Enamel is the first line of defense,” he says. “Once that line of defense begins to break down, tooth decay accelerates.” Alvaro Mata At the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom. Enamel does not regenerate naturally, and treatments such as fluoride varnish and remineralization solutions only prevent the situation from getting worse.
Searching for a solution, Matta and his colleagues developed a gel that contained a modified version of a protein they had manipulated to act like amelogenin, the protein that helps direct enamel growth when we’re babies.
Experiments involving sticking the gel to human teeth under a microscope in solutions containing calcium and phosphate – the building blocks of enamel – showed that it creates a thin, strong film that remains on the teeth for a few weeks, even during brushing.
The gel fills the holes and fissures, creating a scaffold that uses calcium and phosphate to promote the orderly growth of new crystals in the enamel beneath the gel layer, even when too much has disappeared exposing the underlying dentin below.
“The gel was able to grow crystals epitaxially, meaning in the same crystallographic direction as the existing enamel,” says Mata.
This trend means that the new growth – up to 10 micrometres thick – is integrated into the underlying normal tissue, rebuilding the structure and properties of the enamel. “Growth literally happens within a week,” says Mata. The procedure also worked when using donated saliva, which also naturally contains calcium and phosphate, and not just the solution the team used contained these chemicals.
Electron microscope images of a tooth with demineralized enamel showing eroded crystals (left) and an identical demineralized tooth after two weeks of gel treatment, showing supra-axial regenerated enamel crystals (right)
Professor Alvaro Mata, University of Nottingham
A similar approach was reported in 2019, but this produced thinner layers, and the recovery of the structure of the inner layers of enamel was only partial.
Clinical trials on humans are scheduled for early next year. Mata has also launched a company called Mintech-Bio and hopes to launch the first product at the end of 2026, which he sees dentists using.