Cellular and Molecular Bioengineering - Poster Session E
Poster I11 - Treatment of dental caries biofilms by non-thermal atomspheric plasma
Saturday, October 26, 2024
10:00 AM - 11:00 AM EST
Location: Exhibit Hall E, F & G
Introduction: Non-thermal atmospheric plasma (NTAP/NTP) is an important biomedical application in wound healing and dentistry. Plasma is a 4th state of matter and cold plasma is an ionized gas that has antimicrobial properties. NTP has broad application in the food industry, agriculture, and wastewater treatment. NTP has also been found to be effective in treating numerous bacterial biofilms including biofilms responsible for oral and dental infections. The effectiveness of NTP in killing oral biofilms involved in dental caries is studied.
Materials and
Methods: Fluorine NTPs (FNTPs) have been generated with our custom-made plasma device using argon gas by adding a F-containing gaseous compounds 1,1,1,2-tetrafluoroethane (TFE). Dual-species biofilms of S. mutans and S. sanguinis were formed and treated by FNTPs with settings of argon at 3000sccm and 1,1,2,2 tetrafluoroethane (TFE) at 5sccm and 10sccm with the argon. The settings were 6.0mA current and -1.0kV voltage. Dual biofilms of S. mutans and S. sanguinis were formed in 24 well plates coated with artificial saliva. They were grouped for the following treatments: untreated, argon 1 minute, argon 2 minute, TFE 5 sccm 1 minute, TFE 5 sccm 2 minute, TFE 10 sccm 1 minute, TFE 10 sccm 2 minutes. TFE plasma was generated with 3000sccm argon and 5 or 10 sccm TFE. Following treatment, bacterial viability of biofilms was determined with PrestoBlueTM Cell Viability Reagent and the total colony forming units (CFU) of S. mutans plus S. sanguinis in biofilms were counted by plate counting on mitis salivarius-bacitracin agar plates.
Results, Conclusions, and Discussions: CFU counts of the agar plates and bacterial biofilm viability was significantly decreased between non-treated vs treated with FNTP with p< 0.001. FNTP treatments achieved bacterial viability reduction of approximately 90%. The CFU counting results were consistent with PrestoBlueTM results. FNTP treatments achieved 2-5 log unite CFU reductions (p < 0.001). This result demonstrates that FNTP could efficiently eradicate bacteria in dual biofilm. Our results indicated that FNTP plasma was markedly more effective at killing oral biofilm bacteria in comparison with standard antibiotic treatment. More studies will be performed to understand the effects of NTP, specifically FNTP on mammalian cells to ascertain its safety in clinical application. Plasma dentistry is still in nascent stage. The plasma technology has the potential to provide less painful and more effective/long-lasting treatment for the patients. Based on our results, the FNTP technology has demonstrated promising potency at eradicating oral biofilm to treat dental caries. Further research with in vitro and in vivo models will be needed to advance to clinical practice.
Acknowledgements (Optional): Hong, Qing, et al. “Plasma treatment effects on destruction and recovery of Porphyromonas Gingivalis biofilms.” PLOS ONE, vol. 17, no. 9, 14 Sept. 2022, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274523. Lata, S, et al. “Aurora Borealis in Dentistry: The Applications of Cold Plasma in Biomedicine.” Materials Today Bio, Elsevier, 30 Dec. 2021, www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2590006421001083. Barry AL, Craig WA, Nadler H, Reller LB, Sanders CC, Swenson JM. Methods for determining bactericidal activity of antimicrobial agents: approved guideline M26-A. 19: National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards; 1999. Julák, Jaroslav, et al. “Medically important biofilms and non-thermal plasma.” World Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, vol. 34, no. 12, 19 Nov. 2018, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-018-2560-2.
