5 News 09/21 mely durable and withstands the forces of chewing and brushing without losing its shine for a long time. Dentists all over the world have expressed their enthusiasm and shared examples of their work, which is very gratifying. Your material has been pa- tented. Aside from this product, do you hold any other patents for dental applications? I hold 100 U.S. patents, 58 Eu- ropean patents and their corre- sponding equivalents in other countries. The majority of my pa- tents are in the area of dental ma- terials. You have been awarded and honored many times, including being inducted into the U.S. Na- tional Inventors Hall of Fame in 2018. Only recently, you won the European Inventor Award 2021—in the category Non-Eu- ropean Patent Office countries. Congratulations! How mea- ningful are these awards to you? I feel greatly honored to be recognized by organizations like the National Inventors Hall of Fame, the American Chemi- cal Society and many others, in- cluding most recently the Eu- ropean Patent Office for this in- vention. It is quite humbling to be included in the same league as so many well-known inven- tors whose work has greatly be- nefited society. This type of reco- gnition validates the importance of the scientific contributions of scientists and increases pub- lic awareness of the pivotal role that science and technology play for the advancement of society. Another important aspect is that the award creates role models for aspiring scientists who pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related fields. Further- more, awards like these give a voice to science and help in influ- encing greater funding for scien- tific research and policymaking. In your opinion, what are the essential characteristics that a person needs in order to start an innovation? Basically, it is a combination of curiosity, exploration and ima- gination. Of course, you need a scientific training, but above all, you have to try new ways of doing things—a way that is more convenient and or easier. The other thing is to have passion coupled with persistence. The first attempts may not be success- ful, but failures should never dis- courage us. They only show us that there is another pathway to- ward achieving a goal. How do you inspire young people and what would you tell the next generation of potential innovators? After my retirement, I have spent many hours volunteering and teaching at a number of local organizations, encouraging STEM education at all levels, pri- mary school to postgraduate. It is a way for me to give back to so- ciety for all the opportunities I have had. Everyone has the power to be- come an innovator. The import- ant thing is to understand that a solid foundation in STEM-rela- ted fields gives young people the toolset to unleash their creativity and design better approaches to improving the well-being of so- ciety. I always tell young people, “Believe in yourself, seek help when needed, and never give up.” Nanorobots will prevent root canal treatment failures Nanosized robots will traverse the slender dentinal tubules and target the hard-to-reach bacteria. (Photo: canva) By Rajeev Chitguppi, Dental Tribune South Asia nanosized An indigenously developed technology will nanorobotic robots deploy that will traverse the slender dentinal target the bacteria, primarily responsible for the root canal treatment failures tubules and hard-to-reach Many root canal treatment incomplete cases fail due to certain debridement of pathogenic bacteria - inaccessible to to their deep location inside the dentinal tubules. Researchers, including those from the Indian instrumentation due of have Science (IISc), Institute developed Bengaluru, nanorobotic technology to solve this problem. The technology involves nanosized robots that will traverse the slender dentinal tubules and target the hard-to- reach bacteria. What are these nanorobots? They are spiral silica nanobots with iron embedded in them. Less than 300 nanometers in dimension, they are suspended in water or water-like biocompatible medium. Compare their size with dentinal tubules that are a few microns wide. There can be about a billion nanorobots in as little as 0.5 ml of water. Moreover, the amount of silica used in the nanorobots will be so negligible that it can be considered harmless for the human body. How do these nanorobots work? The nanorobots are injected into the root canal, and a rotating magnetic field is applied. Since the nanorobots contain magnetic material, they follow the applied magnetic field and move into the dentinal tubule. Once they reach a colony of bacteria, such as Enterococcus faecalis, which are antibiotic- resistant, the nanorobots deploy various antibacterial strategies. Current status Once this technology clears the ongoing regulatory tests for drug compliance, it will enter animal trials. Theranautilus, one of the first nanorobotics companies globally, will market this nanorobotic technology. The company has won this year‘s national award for technology development and commercialization successful of - an award conferred by the Technology Development Board, Government of India every year. indigenous technology IMPRINT PUBLISHER & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Torsten R. OEMUS CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Claudia DUSCHEK DENTAL TRIBUNE SOUTH ASIA EDITION PUBLISHER Ruumi J. DARUWALLA CHIEF EDITOR Dr. Meera VERMA CLINICAL EDITOR Dr. Dilip DESHPANDE RESEARCH EDITOR Dr. Shobha DESHPANDE ASSOCIATE EDITOR Dr. GN ANANDAKRISHNA EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dr. Rajeev CHITGUPPI ASSISTANT EXECUTIVE EDITOR Dr. Amisha PAREKH DESGINER Anil LAHANE PRINTER Mehernosh & Burzin MISTRY Ampersand, Mumbai, India Material from Dental Tribune International GmbH that has been reprinted or translated and reprinted in this issue is copyrighted by Dental Tribune International GmbH. Such material must be published with the permission of Dental Tribune International GmbH. Dental Tribune is a trademark of Dental Tribune International GmbH. DENTAL TRIBUNE INTERNATIONAL GMBH Holbeinstr. 29, 04229, Leipzig, Germany Tel.: +49 341 48 474-302 Fax: +49 341 48 474-173 General requests: info@dental-tribune.com Sales requests: mediasales@dental-tribune.com www.dental-tribune.com International All rights reserved. © 2021 Dental Tribune GmbH. 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