Dental Implants : a chewing gum to detect inflammation

mettus/epictura

Published the 16.08.2017 at 08h48

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Keywords :

implants dentaireschewing-gumInflammation

A chewing gum could revolutionize the dental health ? The idea may seem counter-intuitive, as it has been hammered to the chewers of gum they were at risk of caries. And yet, it is through one of these treats that must be the new discovery of a team of researchers on the disease peri-implantatoires.

These pathologies consecutive to a dental implant are manifested by an inflammation and are infectious. There are two categories : the peri-implant mucositis and peri-implantitis.

Complex diagnosis

Problem : their symptoms may be varied and is to be confused with those of other diseases. As a result, peri-implant disease is poorly and late diagnosed, at the end of a clinical procedure is sometimes complex and expensive.

Researchers have found a way to facilitate the diagnosis through a simple chewing-gum with a sensor biosensible. The technology reacts in the event of inflammation-related pathology by broadcasting a bitter taste.

Bitter taste

In fact, the patients with peri-implant disease produce a specific enzyme, which is identified by the sensor. Chewing gum, tasteless, does not change when it is chewed by a person that does not have signs of disease development.

The work with this technology have been published in the journal Nature. The efficacy and safety of this device must be confirmed by clinical work. But the researchers believe that this chewing gum would be possible to equip dental offices to reduce the cost of the diagnostic kits currently in use. Eventually, the aim is that this therapeutic tool can be used ” by anyone, anywhere, anytime “.