Rosalba La Gioia

The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vitro whether the type of tooth preservation before treatment with the Tooth Transformer^® (TT) device affects the osteoinductive characteristics of the extracted tooth. Forty extracted teeth from healthy non-smoking patients were selected. All teeth were cleaned of caries, tartar, and filling material and then roughly sectioned and divided into four experimental groups according to storage type: room-temperature (RT) tooth samples, frozen tooth samples, RIPA tooth samples, and fresh tooth samples. Each sample was minced, demineralized, and disinfected using the TT device. The Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay (ELISA) test revealed the presence of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and collagen type-I (COL-I) in all of the samples, demonstrating that the fresh teeth retained the most significant amount of osteoinductive protein. In contrast, the tooth samples stored at room temperature (RT) showed the most important loss of BMP-2 and COL-I. A Western Blot analysis demonstrated the presence of the Mineralization Protein LIM-1 (LMP-1) and Transforming Growth Factor-β (TGF-β) in all of the dental samples analyzed. The fresh and frozen dental samples showed significantly higher levels of LMP-1 than those in the other samples. In contrast, the levels of TGF-β were similar in all of the dental samples examined, regardless of the type of storage. These experimental results suggest that an extracted tooth should be treated with the TT device as soon as possible to maximize its osteoinductive potential in surgical bone preservation and regeneration procedures.

Several studies have already demonstrated the biocompatibility of a tooth as a grafting material in the regeneration of bone tissue, showing its osteoconductive potential, while no studies have verified whether the osteoinductive potential of a tooth remains constant or is altered after its treatment with the Tooth Transformer (TT) device. The aim of the study was to demonstrate that the treatment with the TT device did not alter the osteoinductivity of an extracted tooth that was stored dry. Twelve extracted human teeth were collected from real patients. Caries, tartar and filling materials were removed from each tooth; each tooth was coarsely cut and stored at room temperature (RT) until use. Each sample was shredded, demineralized and disinfected, using the TT device. Protein extraction was carried out for each sample, and Western Blot analysis was performed to test the presence of mineralization protein LIM-1 and transforming growth factor-β. The presence of the human Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 (BMP-2) and human collagen Type I (COL-I) was found in dry tooth samples processed with the TT device and subjected to Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) testing. The treatment of chemical demineralization using the TT device does not alter the osteoinductive potential of a dry tooth.