Nanorobots will prevent root canal treatment failures

Many root canal treatment cases fail due to incomplete debridement of certain pathogenic bacteria - inaccessible to instrumentation due to their deep location inside the dentinal tubules. Researchers, including those from the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru, have developed nanorobotic technology to solve this problem. The technology involves nanosized robots that will traverse the slender dentinal tubules and target the hard-to-reach bacteria.

What are these nanorobots?

They are spiral silica nanobots with iron embedded in them. Less than 300 nanometers in dimension, they are suspended in water or water-like biocompatible medium. Compare their size with dentinal tubules that are a few microns wide. There can be about a billion nanorobots in as little as 0.5 ml of water. Moreover, the amount of silica used in the nanorobots will be so negligible that it can be considered harmless for the human body.

How do these nanorobots work?

The nanorobots are injected into the root canal, and a rotating magnetic field is applied. Since the nanorobots contain magnetic material, they follow the applied magnetic field and move into the dentinal tubule.

Once they reach a colony of bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecalis, which are antibiotic-resistant, the nanorobots deploy various antibacterial strategies.

Current status

Once this technology clears the ongoing regulatory tests for drug compliance, it will enter animal trials.

Theranautilus, one of the first nanorobotics companies globally, will market this nanorobotic technology. The company has won this year's national award for technology development and successful commercialization of indigenous technology - an award conferred by the Technology Development Board, Government of India every year.

Follow Shanmukh Srinivas (Co-founder & CEO) on Linkedin: Click here

Follow Debayan Dasgupta (Co-founder & CEO) on Linkedin: Click here