Amorphous calcium phosphate is showing great covenant in dental restorative work, say researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology at Ohio.This ACP has new physical-chemical properties,” says Tyndall Don, Ph.D., a researcher at OSU. “It’s more soluble than other calcium phosphates and has a tendency to convert to the stable dental mineral hydroxyapatite, which is the main inorganic component of teeth.”
The product is biocompatible and has remineralization potential, he explains. Simply put, it re-deposits the hydroxyapatite in areas of the tooth damaged by decay — caries — helping the tooth structure to repair itself.ACP has been around for decades, but this new compound has the unique ability to incorporate with photocurable polymer composite resins — making it stable or degradable, depending on your intended application.The most proximate application of nonbiodegradable ACP would be in orthodontics. Mixing it into the adhesive would prevent cavities from forming around the orthodontic brace via remineralization, or at least would inhibit demineralization.
Another use is as a base material, or liner, underneath the regular filling. This would stop secondary cavities from forming around the original cavity under or adjacent to the filling. Dr. Don calls this a major advancement since more than half of fillings are necessitated by secondary tooth decay.
“Compared with conventional composites, the ACP is weaker mechanically and cannot be used for major restorations,” says Dr. Don. “We are working on improvement of mechanical properties by modifying the surface properties of ACP and by changing the composition of the resin," he says.
