Scientists create nanobots capable of killing bacteria inside teeth with heat

In the human body, teeth are one of the elements that require the most attention in their care, due to the amount of bacteria that can accumulate in this area as a result of the food we eat.

However, it is likely that at some point we have all experienced a toothache, which is usually accompanied by fever and headache, symptoms that can interfere with the daily care that these bones deserve.

It is in this instance where a group of scientists from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) took on the task of carrying out the development of a new tool focused on root canals in order to increase the effectiveness of this dental procedure.

Is about nano-sized cleaning robots endowed with the ability to enter the spaces of difficult access located inside the dentinal tubules, which would be in charge of kill bacteria that are lodged there by heat.

As far as their design is concerned, these cleaning robots have a helical shapewhich has been manufactured from iron-coated silicon dioxide.

To carry out the manipulation of these robots, a special device is required, which generates a low-intensity magnetic field.

In existing procedures that involve the use of lasers and ultrasound to combat bacteria, these can be inefficient as they have a limited scope, this being only a few 800 micrometers deep on the treated tooth.

In the case of the nanometric robots created by the team, these have been specially designed to exceed this threshold and reach much further into the tooth, reaching 2 thousand micrometers.

You are probably wondering if these nanometer robots stay inside the tooth after doing their job. In that sense, the creators pointed out that these can be extracted from the tooth once the procedure is finished. During the test phase, the nanobots were implanted in the teeth of mice, where they proved highly effective.

At the moment the team is working on the development of a medical device, which will be given the right size to fit in the mouth and make it easier for the dentist to inject the nanobots into the tooth. Then they will be in charge of directing them to carry out the procedure aimed at eliminating the bacteria present in the root canal.

Source: iisc.ac.in