Teeth may seem like static fixtures, but a new collaboration between engineers and clinicians is proving just how dynamic, informative, and medically significant our teeth can be.<\/p>\n
\n An image taken through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) shows a polished sagittal section through a mouse mandibular incisor, showing the different mineralized tissue layers.\n <\/p>\n
(Image: Courtesy of Penn Engineering Today)<\/p>\n
In a study<\/a> published in the American Chemical Society\u2019s ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, engineers and dentists have uncovered how teeth, as biological material, hold key information for understanding rare craniofacial disorders that develop during childhood. Kyle Vining<\/a>, assistant professor in materials science and engineering (MSE) at Penn\u2019s School of Engineering and Applied Science<\/a>, and preventative and restorative science at Penn\u2019s School of Dental Medicine<\/a>, leads an interdisciplinary team. The team includes Yuchen (Tracy) Jiang, a former master\u2019s student in MSE, Kei Katsura, a pediatric dentist and postdoctoral research scholar at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the Institute of Translational Medicine and Therapeutics at Penn, and Elizabeth Bhoj<\/a>, assistant professor of pediatrics in Penn\u2019s Perelman School of Medicine<\/a> and the Division of Human Genetics at CHOP.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople often assume that if you understand bone, you understand teeth,\u201d says Vining. \u201cBut that\u2019s not necessarily the case. Teeth have a different composition, require different analytical tools and behave differently during development.\u201d<\/p>\n The project is centered on a deceptively simple question: \u201cHow do teeth mineralize?\u201d To answer this question, researchers borrowed a surprising tool from geology: the nanoindenter, a device traditionally used to test the hardness of rocks. Using nanoindentation, scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Raman spectroscopy, the team measured everything from tooth enamel\u2019s elasticity and stiffness to mineral contents.<\/p>\n While Jiang and Vining analyzed the physical properties of teeth, Katsura brought in the biological side: mouse models of Mendelian genetic disorders, many of which mimic the human versions of craniofacial syndromes. Bhoj provided further expertise on these rare diseases, helping guide the project toward real-world clinical applications.<\/p>\n This work is already informing the team\u2019s future studies on genetic craniofacial diseases in mice. Long term, the researchers envision their tools used in dental clinics to screen for enamel defects, assess treatment outcomes, or even predict disease risk.<\/p>\n