Research Grant Provides Hope For Periodontal Disease Treatment

3 May 2016
— For Immediate Release

The Australian Dental Industry Association (ADIA), the peak business organisation representing manufacturers and suppliers of dental products, is pleased to announce that the 2015 ADIA Research Award has gone to Dr Cédryck Vaquette from the Queensland University of Technology. The grant will be used to support research into the controlled manufacturing of fibre-guiding scaffold for promoting functional periodontal ligament attachment.

“Periodontal disease is common and therefore a significant issue in the Australian population resulting in the destruction of soft and hard tissue around teeth. This research is important as it studies the pioneering way to regenerate the tissues lost as a result of periodontitis,” said Troy Williams, ADIA Chief Executive Officer.

The research project being undertaken by Dr Vaquette will elicit the controlled manufacturing of a fibre-guiding scaffold combined with cell sheet technology for promoting bone formation, functional periodontal attachment and regeneration. This will be achieved by utilising innovative scaffold fabrication technology, such as melt electrospinning writing, for the production of a hierarchically organised biphasic scaffold. This scaffold will comprise of aligned channels for guiding periodontal fibre attachment and a pore size gradient for promoting vascularisation and subsequent bone formation in order to functionally regenerate the periodontium complex.

The in-vitro evaluation will be performed at the Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation at the Queensland University of Technology and the in-vivo experiment will be performed at the School of Dentistry and Oral Health at Griffith University.

Each year, the ADIA Research Award is awarded to the primary applicant for the highest-ranked research project of those considered by the Australian Dental Research Foundation (ADRF). Established in 1970, the ADRF is a joint venture between ADIA and the Australian Dental Association (ADA) for the purpose of sponsoring dental research towards improving the dental and oral health of the people of Australia.

“ADIA is proud to be supporting the ADRF and Dr Vaquette in this research project. It’s arguable that research into dental and oral health is under-funded in Australia and this research project is congruous with ADIA’s commitment to supporting, at a local level, research that may lead to innovative new treatment pathways and products,” Mr Williams concluded.

Ends.