Development of Chitin-chitosan Sheets And Sponges to be Used as Dental Materials

Abstract

Chitin is the principle component of the exoskeleton of crustaceans which are abound in Thailand. Chitin as well as its derivative, chitosan, have recently been used widely as biomedical materials for different treatment purposes and in different products. The objective of this study was to develop chitosan to be used as dental biomaterials. In this study, chitosan powder was prepared into 4 prepara-tions using different protocols. All products were then studied for their cellular biocompatibility and biodegradability in vitro and in vivo. The results from in vitro study showed that all 4 products were biocompatible to human gingival fibroblasts while the results from in vivo study were different among preparations. The chitosan sheet was neither biodegradable nor induce any tissue reaction within the experimental period while the sheet and sponge prepareded from carboxy-methylchitosan demonstrated different degrees of biodegradation with very little tissue response. The sponge prepared from chitosan/collagen revealed partial biodegradation with foreign body reaction. These results suggest that some of these preparations might be worth to develop to be used as dental biomaterials.