Dentures inspired by nature developed

For the first time, tiny ‘suction cups’ have been designed into 3D-printed dentures, helping them to stay in position. The research could help the 11 per cent of the UK population who use a denture and the 350m of people around the world who have no natural teeth at all.

Dentures remain the most common treatment for people who lose their teeth, particularly with age. Whilst patients have access to other options such as dental implants, these can be expensive and not always available to people.

Many denture wearers struggle to get their dentures to stay in place – known as ‘retention’. People are often reliant on supermarket denture adhesive, used to glue dentures back in place, but this option is unhygienic and unpopular with users.

Harnessing the power of nature

An interdisciplinary team of scientists at King’s College London from the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral, and Craniofacial Sciences, explored how they could replicate the same process which enables octopuses to stick to slippery surfaces in dentistry. Octopuses have ‘suction cups’ in their tentacles which create a negative pressure and a vacuum, creating strong suction to fix them to rocks.