Synthesis and Characterization of Metal Substituted Bioactive Glass for Treatment of Periodontal Disease

Abstract

Periodontitis is a serious gum infection that damages soft tissue and if not treated well can destroy bone resulting in tooth loss and is caused by different bacteria such as Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, Porphyromonas gingivalis and Tannerella forsythia. Roughly 50% world population is affected with it and 750 million people suffer from its severe form. The damaged bone can be regenerated in different ways, including using one’s own bone, or using donor’s bone and third way by using different synthetic bone fillers including bioactive glasses. Bioactive glasses (BGs) are non-crystalline biomaterials that are able to bond soft and hard living tissues and dissolve over time to stimulate growth of new tissues. In this research, an effective approach of periodontal treatment is to treat it with nano-sized bioactive glass prepared by co-precipitation method in which metal copper and fluoride ions are doped to increase its antimicrobial properties as well as strength. Different concentrations of copper-fluoride (Cu-F) doped bioactive glass have been prepared and characterized by different analytical techniques including FTIR, XRD and SEM-EDX to confirm the successful incorporation of copper and fluoride ions. The results showed that metal doped bioactive glasses were successfully prepared.