Chapter 3 – Antimicrobial Nanoparticles in Restorative Composites

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses use of nanoparticles in making restorative composites for dentistry purpose. Restorative composite materials are commonly used in dentistry as hard tissue substitute. Recent studies have shown that incorporation of quaternary ammonium PEI (QPEI) nanoparticles in a resin composite has a long-lasing antimicrobial effect against a wide range of bacteria with no apparent negative effect on biocompatibility. QPEI nanoparticles are found to have a strong bactericidal activity against Streptococcus mutans and a wide variety of microorganisms rapidly killing bacterial cells when incorporated at small concentrations into restorative composites. QPEI nanoparticles have a potential to be incorporated into dental resin-based restorative materials to provide bactericidal activity without causing adverse effect on physiologic properties or on biocompatibility. This chapter begins with a discussion on antibacterial restorative composites and then elaborates basic concepts related to filler phase modification, matrix phase modification, released antibacterial agents, and nonreleased antibacterial agents. The chapter also discusses about antimicrobial macromolecules. The chapter concludes with a discussion on nanoparticles and their synthesis.