Universitas Brawijaya (UB) confirmed Prof. Dr. drg. Muhamad Chair Effendi, S.U., Sp.KGA from the Faculty of Dentistry (FKG-UB), Saturday (05/08/2023). He was inaugurated as the first NIDK professor at FKG and UB, and the 327th professor out of all the professors that UB has produced.
Prof. Dr. drg. Muhamad Chair Effendi, S.U., Sp.KGA delivered his speech entitled “Zinc Oxide/Propolis Nanoparticle Biocomposite (nZno/Propolis) as a Liner for Children’s Dental Pulp Protection”.
According to the Global Burden of Disease (2019), one of the most common dental diseases in children is dental caries, which is the most common dental health problem.
Dental caries in children not only has a negative impact on oral health, but can also have serious implications for more complex aspects of health, such as stunting or chronic growth disorders in children. At the same time, stunting can reduce salivary secretion, increase the risk of caries and can delay the eruption of permanent teeth.
In the case of deep dentine caries, the use of a liner is the best solution to protect the dental pulp from bacterial infection.
Several types of liners that are widely applied in pediatric dentistry are calcium hydroxide, mineral trioxide aggregate, resin-modified glass ionomers, and ZnO eugenol. Of these materials, ZnO eugenol is seen as the most superior liner, but the cytotoxic properties of this material are a crucial issue.
In addition, overfilling of ZnO eugenol can reduce the success of dental treatment. Therefore, innovation is needed to find new materials that are better at overcoming treatment failures in children’s dental pulp.
As an effort to increase the antibacterial ability, nZnO can add other antibacterial ingredients from natural ingredients, namely propolis.
The nZnO/propolis biocomposite, which is a mixture of ZnO nanoparticles with the natural ingredient propolis, has great potential as a liner for pulp protection in children’s teeth, especially in inhibiting and killing Streptococcus mutans with the nZnO/propolis biocomposite composition with a propolis concentration of 12.5% and a size nZnO ranged from 30-80 nm.
The strength of the nZnO/propolis biocomposite as an antibacterial and the ease of obtaining propolis from nature can at the same time cover the deficiency of the cytotoxic ZnO eugenol liner material. [Irene/ UB PR/ Trans. Iir]
