Stand tall and smile: Professor Anne Young’s Inaugural Lecture

We are delighted to announce Professor Anne Young’s Inaugural Lecture:

Dental caries (tooth decay) are on the rise again with tooth extractions by far the most common reason for children requiring hospitalisation.

Materials for tooth repair include silver mercury amalgam and composites. Amalgam is being phased out due to patient demand for more aesthetic materials and concerns over mercury toxicity.  

Composites require drilling of the tooth to remove infected and affected dentine followed by complex, time-consuming and unreliable bonding procedures. Furthermore, the composite can encourage bacterial growth and inhibit the natural tooth repair mechanisms.

Professor Young has been developing injectable, drug-releasing, composite cements for repair of tooth and bone.

The first part of her lecture will therefore cover the work of her group to develop composites that are much easier to place, treat the infection and encourage natural repair. These features, in combination with good material mechanical properties, should enable less removal of disease affected dentine and allow children to keep their teeth for longer

Professor Young will also describe her group’s newer work modifying dental composites to enable minimally invasive repair of vertebral compression fractures. These fractures are a common complication of osteoporosis or bone cancer metastases.  She will describe how these materials can help to solve multiple problems with currently employed polymethylmethacrylate bone cements.

The lecture will be followed by a drinks reception.