Computational Modelling for Efficient Transdentinal Drug Delivery

This work deals with the numerical investigation of the delivery of potential therapeutic agents through dentinal discs (i.e., a cylindrical segment of the dentinal tissue) towards the dentin–pulp junction. The aim is to assess the main key features (i.e., molecular size, initial concentration, consumption rate, disc porosity and thickness) that affect the delivery of therapeutic substances to the dental pulp and consequently to define the necessary quantitative and qualitative issues related to a specific agent before its potential application in clinical practice. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code used for the numerical study is validated with relevant experimental data obtained using micro Laser Induced Fluorescence (μ-LIF) a non-intrusive optical measuring technique. As the phenomenon is diffusion dominated and strongly dependent on the molecular size, the time needed for the concentration of released molecules to attain a required value can be controlled by their initial concentration. Finally, a model is proposed which, given the maximum acceptable time for the drug concentration to attain a required value at the pulpal side of the tissue along with the aforementioned key design parameters, is able to estimate the initial concentration to be imposed and vice versa.