The objective of this Phase I SBIR proposal is to provide improved therapies for the treatment of periodontal disease. Periodontal Disease is a chronic infectious disease of the oral cavity that effects about 35 % of the adult population in the United States, or slightly more than 40 million people.1-12 In severe cases, periodontal disease can lead to a failure of the underlying bone structure and necessitate surgical extraction and replacement of the teeth. In the U.S alone, the cost of treating periodontal disease was estimated at $19 billion dollars annually in 19984. The innovation proposed is to produce multifunctional, surface-modified nanoparticle carriers that are designed to bind robustly to hard tissue surfaces and bacterial biofilms, and may deliver multiple therapeutic payloads. Because the nanoparticles may bind to tissue surfaces and to bacterial biofilms, the carriers may have substantive (long lasting) therapeutic effects within the periodontal pocket, a major shortcoming of current therapies. The ability to localize and chemically attach the drug-carrier within the periodontium is a major advantage of the proposed innovation, since conventional therapies all suffer from the fact that the drugs are rapidly cleared by the turnover of gingival crevicular fluid (saliva).7 The proposed innovation, if successful, will be capable of managing multiple therapeutic chemistries and deliver them to the periodontal pocket and gingival tissues at efficacious levels over an extended period of time, without repeated intervention from a clinician.
Periodontal Disease is a chronic infectious disease of the oral cavity that effects about 35 % of the adult population in the United States, or slightly more than 40 million people. This SBIR seeks to overcome the shortcomings of current therapies for periodontal disease, and to provide a therapy that is capable of managing multiple therapeutic chemistries, delivering them to disease sites over an extended period of time, without the repeated intervention from a clinician.
