Superhydrophobic Implantable Surface and 3D Printing Technology for Targeted Dental Photodynamic Therapy

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Project Summary/Abstract Eradication of bacteria that are located in periodontal pockets is a daunting challenge to dentists and oral care professionals. Doxycycline or minocycline with scaling and root planing (S&RP) have been the mainstays, but the field urgently needs further advances in perio bacteria eradication. A high precision, photochemical implement that could be used simultaneously with S&RP would reduce or eliminate these problems. The development of a device for the precise delivery of reactive singlet oxygen would be a major breakthrough for periodontal photodynamic therapy (PDT). The device tip is superhydrophobic and capable of delivering singlet oxygen (a cytotoxic excited state of molecular oxygen) in a controllable fashion. The device offers precise delivery of singlet oxygen to hypoxic bacterial pockets, creating a highly-localized killing zone. We have developed an innovative superhydrophobic-tipped device, which can be inserted at the infection site. The tip discharges singlet oxygen at the infection site and nowhere else in the mouth. The objective of this proposal is to design device tips and validate their use in vitro with hypoxic mixed cultures and saliva biofilms.