Inaugural Lecture Explored Physics of Tooth Decay

This week, Wednesday 6^th March, St Mary’s University College, Twickenham hosted the inaugural lecture of Prof John Nicholson who presented his research ‘Long in the Tooth – The Physics of Tooth Repair’. Professor in Applied Science at St Mary’s, Prof Nicholson reviewed the current state-of-the-art materials used in tooth repair, emphasising his own contribution to the understanding of their properties and behaviour. For more than 150 years, decayed teeth have been repaired with unsightly silver amalgam, but in the last 40 years, there has been a revolution in the materials available and contemporary clinicians have a choice of natural-looking materials that can be used with minimal damage to the remaining healthy tooth tissue. One of these materials is the glass-ionomer cement, which is highly bioactive and capable of forming a durable adhesive bond to the tooth surface. These features have led to novel ‘drill free’ dental treatments becoming available. The full lecture can be viewed on the St Mary’s YouTube page.