Interview: “Biodentine is an innovation that helps dental professionals provide better dental care”

Mr Haas, can you tell us a little bit about the history of Biodentine, and how it was developed?
More than ten years of research and development went into Biodentine before it was launched on the market in 2010. The research programme was led by Septodont teams and involved collaboration with major universities and research centres. The result was more than just a product. Beyond Biodentine, the programme led to the development of a proprietary technological platform for Active Biosilicate Technology, which is also the basis for BioRoot RCS, an innovative mineral root canal sealer that was launched in 2015.

To elaborate, we not only designed a product, but also an innovative process to manufacture the raw material. We could have sought purified Portland cement like other material on the market, but biocompatibility is something we never wanted to make any compromise on, and that’s why we ended up also becoming our own manufacturer of raw material. Our manufacturing process provides the highest level of purity—a critical factor when developing bioactive and biocompatible material that is then placed on living tissue like live pulp or apical cells. That’s part of the difference brought by Biodentine, and our raw material and processes are now proprietary technologies. There’s more to come in the future.

There are nearly 600 publications listed in PubMed that reference the product, and it’s been repeatedly supported by scientific studies. What is it about Biodentine that the scientific research community is particularly drawn to?
And that number is growing every week! That is for us a great indicator of the extent to which experts endorse the product and its clinical benefits. Biodentine is one of the innovations that has helped dental professionals provide better dental care. We’re talking about keeping teeth alive in cases where endodontic treatment or extraction was the only lasting option, and as such, it is a material that rouses researchers’ interest. As an example, one of the recently published papers from Aix-Marseille University from the end of 2018 brought to light the anti-inflammatory effect of Biodentine, which had not previously been shown or highlighted. Over time, Biodentine has become the standard against which every new product in this catergory is compared.

There is a growing trend for procedures such as vital pulp therapy to be performed with the ultimate aim of retaining tooth vitality. Can Biodentine be beneficial in these situations?
There are currently two hot topics discussed by expert groups and scientific congresses. The first topic is the management of irreversible pulpitis. Historically, these cases were considered candidates for root canal treatment. Different groups from around the world have shown that some cases that were considered irreversible were actually not. When a pulpotomy with direct capping is performed with a product such as Biodentine, this often leads to keeping the tooth involved vital. Scientific groups like the European Society of Endodontology (ESE) are very much involved in this approach and recently issued clinical guidelines on how to perform this vital pulp therapy, helping clinicians with the protocol to try to save teeth that were previously thought to be deemed for devitalisation. This indicates the trend for the future, in which Biodentine has a major role to play.

The second topic is related to endodontic treatment with the revitalisation approach. This has the goal of inducing living tissue regeneration within the root canal, instead of sealing it with gutta-percha and a root canal sealer. Here again, expert groups like the American Association of Endodontists and the ESE recommend the use of calcium silicate materials like Biodentine as the capping material to be placed directly over live tissue. The principle relies on the biocompatibility and bioactivity of the material, which is not only not detrimental to the living cells, but even beneficial to the vital process. It enables functional living tissue to thrive, which is known to be the best barrier against infections.

Are there any additional benefits of Biodentine not mentioned yet?
Biodentine is unique in the way that the material is the closer to natural dentin, both in terms of physical and physiological properties; therefore, its use is indicated for both the crown and root, basically every time dentin is damaged. If there is one thing to highlight, it is that the product leads to the absence of postoperative pain. Septodont is a company very much oriented towards pain management. The material used in endodontics and restorative dentistry also plays a role in good management of pain. This has been clearly highlighted in many publications as well.

Thank you very much for the interview.

Tags: