How Is Biomedical Sciences Relevant To Dentistry?

While the recent examples of biomedical science progress, directly affecting dentistry may not be asdramatic; they are certainly as meaningful and becoming more numerous. For instance, Kelly et al. (6) reported de?ning a peptide region of the Streptococcus mutans adhesin protein that is critically involved in tooth colonization and plaque formation. They then synthesized that peptide and, in a clinical trial, showedit speci?cally could block S. mutans colonization inpatients for up to 3 months. Many dental applications have been described for the bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs; 7).

that transfer of the BMP-2 gene into mandibular osseous defects using a recombinant adenoviral vector led to repair of the defect within 3 months. Similarly, in apre-clinical study, Rutherford (9) used adenoviralmediated delivery of the BMP-7 gene for ex vivo gene transfer to ferret dermal ?broblasts. When these transduced cells were administered to teeth with a reversiblepulpitis, they induced reparative dentinogenesis with apparent regeneration of the dentin-pulp complex (9)

Perhaps the most advanced applications of biomedical science involve patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. In controlled trials, use of a specially engineered recombinant adenovirus as adjunctive therapy resulted in tumour-speci?c cytolysis and enhanced tumour susceptibility to conventional chemotherapy