Nanobots set to transform root canal treatments

A report in New Atlas has revealed that scientists at the Indian Institute of Science have created nanobots which, steered by a magnetic field, "kill bacteria with heat, offering a safe and potent way to improve the success of standard root canal treatments."

The development of the microscopic robots was a byproduct of a project that sought to find “new and improved” ways of dealing with the bacteria that reside in dentinal tubules, some of which evade standard root canal treatments.

“The dentinal tubules are very small, and bacteria reside deep in the tissue," explained team member Shanmukh Srinivas. "Current techniques are not efficient enough to go all the way inside and kill the bacteria."

While the team encountered some success with increasing the efficacy of root canal treatments with lasers and ultrasound, they are only reached 800 micrometers into the teeth; by way of contrast, the nanobots can penetrate to depths of 2000 micrometers.

Work is currently underway to commercialise the technology in addition to the team "working on a purpose-built medical device dentists can use to deploy and control the robots inside the mouth during root canal treatment."

For more on this story, go to the New Atlas story “Tiny dental nanobots generate heat to deep clean the teeth”