WASHINGTON: What if you could fix your teeth while sleeping? A team of researchers has come up with a new toothpaste ingredient that hardens your teeth while you doze.
The new BioMinF toothpaste ingredient, developed by Queen Mary University of London, puts back the lost minerals from tooth enamel and helps prevent decay and treat sensitivity while you sleep and is available online and from specialist dental distributors now. It is expected to be available through high street stores by the end of the year.
The ingredient provides a new tooth repair technology which will bring relief to the millions of adults and children around the world who are prone to tooth decay and sensitivity.
Using remineralising toothpaste makes teeth far more resistant to attack from acidic soft drinks like fruit juices and sodas. It is also much more effective than conventional toothpastes where the active ingredients, such as soluble fluoride, are washed away and become ineffective less than two hours after brushing," said researcher Robert Hill, who led the team which developed BioMin and won the 2013 Armourers and Brasiers Venture Prize.
Professor Hill added that the technology behind BioMin is not however exclusively designed for toothpastes. It can also be incorporated in other professionally applied dental products such as cleaning and polishing pastes, varnishes and remineralising filling materials.
Co-founder of BioMin, David Gillam, said that tooth sensitivity is caused by open tubules in the teeth. BioMin containing toothpastes are effective by sealing the tubules with acid resistant fluorapatite which act as a barrier to hot and cold being transmitted inside the tooth.
A fluoride free version of BioMin is also being developed for individuals who do not want or need fluoride toothpaste.