These 3-D Printed Teeth Kill Mouth Bacteria and Could Save You From Painful Dentist Visits
3-D printing is already in our bones, our houses, our cars and even our sex toys. Now, it’s coming for our teeth to save us from dentists’ drills and needles.
Researchers from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands have developed a model for a 3-D printed tooth that doesn’t simply sit in your mouth — it also has bacteria-busting properties.
The team detailed the process by which they constructed the dental marvel in an article published in the scientific journal Advanced Functional Materials. They mixed antimicrobial ammonium salts with a dental resin, which was placed in a 3-D printer and solidified with ultraviolet light. The team then printed out their new teeth replacements.
How it works: “The material can kill bacteria on contact, but on the other hand it’s not harmful to human cells,” Andreas Herrmann, one of the project’s researchers, told New Scientist. The antibacterial nature of the tooth is made possible by the ammonium salts: When negatively charged bacterial matter comes into contact with the positively charged ammonium salts, they go up in smoke.
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