Could the dental thread be the next vaccine method? Scientists say it could work

The tooth thread could eventually do much more to improve oral hygiene.

A new study led by Texas Tech University and the University of North Carolina suggests that the thin filament could double as a vaccine mechanism.

In animal models, researchers showed that dental thread can effectively release vaccines through tissue between teeth and gums, according to a press release.

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In the study, the dental thread technique triggered the production of antibodies in “mucous surfaces”, such as the lining of the nose and lungs, according to release.

The findings were published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering.

“The mucous surfaces are important, because they are a source of entry for pathogens, such as influenza and covid,” said co -author Harivender Singh Gill, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the State University of North Carolina, in the launch.

With the traditional method of injecting vaccines, antibodies occur mainly in the bloodstream, he said.

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“But we know that when a vaccine is administered through the surface of the mucosa, the antibodies are stimulated not only in the bloodstream, but also on mucous surfaces,” Gill said.

“This improves the body’s ability to prevent infection, because there is an additional antibody defense line before a pathogen enters the body.”

The vaccine enters through the “union epithelium”, which is a thin layer of tissue in the deep pocket between the tooth and the gum.

This tissue does not have the same barrier as other tissue coatings, which means that it can release immune cells in the body.

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In the study, the investigators added a vaccine against peptide flu to the dental thread without dental thread before using the dental thread of laboratory mice, according to release.

Next, they compared the effectiveness of the vaccine delivered by thread given of dental thread with techniques that gave it nasal or orally.

“It would be easy to manage, and addresses the concerns that many people have about being vaccinated with needles.”

“We find that the application of the vaccine through the union epithelium produces a much higher antibody response on mucous surfaces than the current Oor standard for vaccination through the oral cavity, which implies placing the vaccine under the tongue,” said the first author Rohan Ingrole, a PH.D. Student of the University of Texas Tech.

“The dental thread technique also provides comparable protection against the flu virus compared to the vaccine administered through the nasal epithelium.”

In addition to the flu, the test was repeated for three other types of vaccines: proteins, inactivated viruses and MRNA.

For all kinds, the dental thread technique produced “Robust antibodies responses in the bloodstream and through mucous surfaces,” said release.

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Next, the research team aims to prove the effectiveness of the delivery of vaccines to the epithelial union in humans through the use of dental wire selections, which are easier to maintain.

“It would be easy to manage, and addresses the concerns that many people have about being vaccinated with needles,” Gill said. “And we believe that this technique should be comparable in price to other vaccine delivery techniques.”

Hua Wang, Assistant Professor of Science and Materials Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering of Grainger at the University of Illinois, did not participate in the study, but shared her reaction to the findings.

“This study presents a promising vaccination method based on dental thread that can avoid needle injection or any potentially painful procedure,” News Digital told News.

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“The authors showed that the components of the vaccine in the dental thread coating can penetrate the union epithelium in the gingival groove and reach the underlying tissues, which leads to responses of systemic antibodies.”

The dental thread -based vaccination method could help improve patient compliance if it goes through the complete evaluation process, he said.

Limitations and future research

There are some limitations and inconveniences associated with vaccines based on dental thread, the researchers recognized.

Babies and young children who do not have teeth would not yet be candidates for technique, for example.

“In addition, we would need to know more about how or if this approach would work for people who have gum disease or other oral infections,” Gill added.

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Wang agreed that there are many questions to answer about this experimental vaccination method.

“In addition to the unclear impact of gingival tissue infection on vaccination, local and systemic side effects of this vaccination method cannot be understood yet,” said News Digital.

“For example, gingival tissue vaccination can initiate local inflammation that finally induces undesirable side effects.”

Nor is it clear what exact path the vaccine components follow when they travel from the tooth site to the tissues or how immune responses are generated, Wang said.

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“Finally, from the translation perspective, the efficacy of dental thread -based vaccines would need to be comparable to conventional needle -based vaccines.”

The study was funded by the National Health Institutes (NIH) and by funds from the Whitacre Science and Engineering Chair at the University of Texas Tech.