March 2019 - Hossein Bassir, DDS, DMSc, of Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine has received funding from the American Academy of Implant Dentistry Foundation for the development of scaffold technology in support of the regeneration of bone tissue.
Despite the development of several treatment modalities to achieve bone regeneration in the oral cavity, the procedures requiring it have remained technically challenging with a considerable variability of success. The presence of sufficient bone quantity and quality is necessary for implant placement with many cases lacking in quantity as a result of trauma, tooth loss, or periodontal disease.
Hossein Bassir, DDS, DMSc, will lead a team of scientists from Stony Brook School of Dental Medicine and UCLA Samueli School of Engineering in the development of technology intended to overcome current complications in bone regeneration. According to Dr. Bassir, Assistant Professor and Director of Advanced Specialty Education Program in Periodontics, Department of Periodontology, the project focuses on engineering hydrogel-based and highly adhesive scaffolds with osteoinductive properties.
Unlike currently available grafting materials that lack adhesion to soft and hard tissues, the new scaffold technology will form a solid gel material with a cell-supportive nature, resulting in firm adherence to both soft and hard tissues. It can be polymerized in seconds using commercially available dental curing lights. “This new class of scaffolds can be used as next-generation biomaterials for the regeneration of bone tissue due to their cytocompatibility, cell-supportive nature, adhesive properties, and osteoinductive capabilities,” said Dr. Bassir.
Funded by the American Academy of Implant Dentistry Foundation, the research project is the first phase of larger efforts with the ultimate goal of translating the engineered biomaterials into clinical treatment to improve the outcomes of bone reconstruction surgeries. The initial findings are expected to be established within a year.
