We’re never at a loss for toothpaste choices, but we may see the addition of “With Nanotechnology!” advertised on the tubes in the future. Researchers from the University of Rochester and University of Pennsylvania have designed drug-releasing nanoparticles to protect the teeth from bacterial damage and decay.
The particles are engineered with a positively-charged outer segment to bind to negatively-charged sites on plaque biofilms and tooth enamel, effectively anchoring the particles in place. The particles’ cores are hydrophobic and loaded with farnesol, a hydrophobic antibacterial drug. The cores release the drug more quickly in acidic environments – perfect for when cariogenic bacteria begin to take over the teeth and form biofilms, which can drop locally to pH of 4.5-5.5.
They showed that head-to-head in a topical application, the drug-loaded nanoparticles were four times more powerful in destroying the bugs (Streptococcus mutans, in this study) than the free drug alone. They attributed this fact to the ability of the nanoparticles to adhere and deliver the drug in a controlled-release fashion, targeting sites of bacterial growth (biofilms) to deliver higher concentrations locally.
