“Breakthrough” Technique Could Produce "Smart" Dental Implants That Feel And Function Like Real Teeth

Anyone who has had a dental implant knows how alien it is to have a tooth-like thing in your mouth that isn’t really yours. Although millions of people have these long-term, natural-looking implants to replace missing teeth, traditional ones pretty much fall short of mimicking real teeth. However, researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine have described a new approach that could offer alternatives that feel and function more like normal teeth.

Putting traditional dental implants into place is an uncomfortable experience. It generally involves fusing titanium posts directly into the jawbone so they can support a ceramic crown, a process that often cuts or damages nearby nerves. As a foreign object, the implant is also not connected to nerves, so it provides no sensory information when eating or drinking.

“Natural teeth connect to the jawbone through soft tissue rich in nerves, which help sense pressure and texture and guide how we chew and speak. Implants lack that sensory feedback,” senior author Dr Jake (Jinkun) Chen, a professor of periodontology and director of the Division of Oral Biology at the Tufts School of Dental Medicine, explained to TuftsNow.

But Chen and colleagues have found a way to potentially get around these issues. They have developed an implant with a biodegradable coating that, as it starts to break down during the healing process, releases a cocktail of stem cells and protein that enhances the growth of new nerve tissue around the implant, connecting it to the body's sensory system.

To help the implant fit snugly into the socket, this coating also contains tiny memory foam-like particles, which allow the implant to start off smaller than the missing tooth when first inserted, before slowly expanding to fill the space. The result is a procedure that preserves, rather than damages, the nerve endings in the surrounding tissue.

“This new implant and minimally invasive technique should help reconnect nerves, allowing the implant to ‘talk’ to the brain much like a real tooth,” said Chen. “This breakthrough also could transform other types of bone implants, like those used in hip replacements or fracture repair.”

Chen and colleagues tested the implant and procedure on rats, and just six weeks after surgery, found no signs of inflammation, rejection, or the implant budging out of place.

And there was more. “Imaging revealed a distinct space between the implant and the bone, suggesting that the implant had been integrated through soft tissue rather than the traditional fusion with the bone,” explained Chen, which could potentially lead to the restoration of the surrounding nerves.

Although these results are exciting, more research is needed at this stage. For instance, will these implants behave the same way in other animal models? Are they safe and effective in those models? These are key questions that need to be answered before these implants can make their way into human mouths.

In the meantime, the team hopes to confirm that the new nerves surrounding the implants are providing sensory information, which will involve looking at the rats' brain activity.

The study is published in Scientific Reports.