3M unveils tooth restorative developed at CU-Boulder

A novel dental restorative material designed to make life easier for dentists and their patients, which is based on technology developed by a team of University of Colorado Boulder engineers, was unveiled today by the Maplewood, Minn.-based 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM).

Based on work by a team led by Professor Christopher Bowman of CU Boulder’s chemical and biological engineering department, a team from 3M Health’s dental-products division developed the new polymer, which makes it possible for dentists to fill cavities with a single application that is then cured with light to achieve the desired strength and shape. Currently it can take up to four applications of polymer material, with each layer requiring an individual light-curing procedure, to fill a single, deep-tooth cavity, said Bowman in a media statement.

The new restorative material also eliminates expensive dispensing devices, according to 3M, and unlike some composite cavity-filling materials used today that can shrink or even leak at the surface of a tooth over time, the new material has been shown to have lower stress and to be more wear resistant over time.

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The development effort between CU Boulder and 3M included financial support from the National Institutes of Health. The new restorative material, primarily for posterior teeth where about 70 percent of restoratives are placed, is known as “Filtek Bulk Fill.”

“Our team is excited about seeing this process come to fruition,” said Bowman. “Hopefully there are other implementations of this technology in other fields on the horizon.”

The technology was licensed through CU Boulder’s Technology Transfer Office.