• Posted December 18, 2025

New Bio-Inspired Gel Helps Tooth Enamel Grow Back

THURSDAY, Dec. 18, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Dental appointments may get easier and less painful soon. Scientists have developed a revolutionary gel that can repair and regrow tooth enamel.

The breakthrough could come to the aid of a problem affecting many worldwide and at a time when ingestible fluoride, a mineral that makes tooth enamel stronger, is under question in the United States.

Enamel is the hard coating that protects your teeth. Since natural enamel cannot regrow once it is lost, this new material could change how teeth are protected over time, and how they are restored when damaged.

The gel, developed by an international team including researchers from the University of Nottingham in the U.K., is fluoride-free and functions by mimicking the proteins that build dental enamel during infancy.

The findings were published recently in the journal Nature Communications.

Losing enamel is a major cause of tooth decay. It can happen from sticky plaques or acidic, sugary or high starch foods or drinks sitting on the teeth, as well as from wear and tear from chewing foods over time.

Once enamel erodes, the inner layers of the tooth are exposed, leading to decay and sometimes infection.

Researchers used 32 extracted human molar teeth and tested the new gel’s capabilities outside the mouth environment.

Once applied, the protein-based material filled holes or gaps in the tooth structure and created a robust scaffold that attracted calcium and phosphate ions from saliva. This process, called epitaxial mineralization, helped to grow new enamel.

Lead author Abshar Hasan, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Nottingham and co-founder of Mintech-Bio, explained that this process restores the tooth's natural architecture.

“When our material is applied to demineralized or eroded enamel, or exposed dentine, the material promotes the growth of crystals in an integrated and organized manner, recovering the architecture of our natural healthy enamel," he said in a university news release.

For the study, electron microscopy images confirmed the gel’s success: Eroded apatite crystals on a damaged tooth were transformed into organized, regenerated enamel crystals after two weeks of treatment. 

The regenerated enamel performed just like natural, healthy enamel when brushing, chewing and exposed to acid-producing foods. 

The gel could help to restore thin layers —  up to about  10 micrometers — of lost enamel, the study said.

Beyond repairing decay, the gel can be applied directly onto exposed dentine (the sensitive layer beneath the enamel). Growing an enamel-like layer on dentine could provide relief for tooth hypersensitivity and improve the durability of dental restorations, according to the researchers.

The new gel can be applied quickly, much like an in-office fluoride treatment.

“We are very excited because the technology has been designed with the clinician and patient in mind," said Alvaro Mata, professor and chair of Biomedical Engineering & Biomaterials at the University of Nottingham. "It is safe, can be easily and rapidly applied, and it is scalable.” 

He added that the team has launched a start-up company, Mintech-Bio, and hopes to have a first product available as early as next year.

More information

The U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR) provides information on the causes and treatments of tooth decay.

SOURCES: University of Nottingham, news release, Nov. 4, 2025; Nature Communications, Nov. 5, 2025