3D printed teeth to keep your mouth free of bacteria - results of Andreas Herrmann and UMCG colleagues highlighted in "New Scientist"

3D printing is all over the news these days. No wonder that the radar of the popular science journal New Scientist hit the article of Zernike Institute researcher Andreas Herrmann and his colleagues from the University Medical Centre, published earlier this month. In the article 3D-Printable Antimicrobial Composite Resins, published in Advanced Functional Materials, Herrmann and colleagues describe an antimicrobial plastic, allowing them to 3D print teeth that also kills bacteria. The antimicrobial function is originating from the addition of quarternary ammonium salts to existing dental polymer resins. The positively charged salts disrupt the negatively charged membranes of bacteria, which burst and die. Although the material kills bacterial cells upon contact, it is not harmful to human cells. Read the full story at newscientist.com