A Self-Assembling Peptide with the Potential of Non-Invasive Regeneration of Early Caries Lesions

Natural remineralization of tooth material in demineralized small subsurface lesions provides a challenging purpose. Currently early dental caries are mainly treated by mechanical techniques, like dental fillings or tooth extraction, or by applying protective barriers to the tooth surface, like varnished, containing e.g. fluoride. As a result research is concerned with non-invasive regeneration methods of early caries in enamel/ white spot lesions. The scientific breakthrough was achieved by applying a self-assembling peptide (SAP) to the cavities. The fully synthetic peptide forms a 3D supramolecular network in situ and is assumed to trigger nucleation of calcium phosphate nanocrystals, resulting in a biomimetic mineralization and therefore a regeneration of demineralized cavities In this project, the diffusion, assembly and remineralization process of the peptide P11-4 were studied in artificially demineralized cavities of human teeth. Keywords: caries lesion, Remineralization, Self-assembling peptide, Enamel, Non-Invasive