The National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research has awarded Spire Biomedical a nine-month Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Grant for $114,173 to develop coatings for dental arch wires used in orthodontics.
The purpose of the coatings is to reduce sliding resistance between the arch wire and bracket, lowering the force required to straighten teeth, reducing treatment times, and resulting in more predictable outcomes for the orthodontist.
"Spire Biomedical provides surface treatment and coating services to the medical device industry," stated Mark Little, CEO of Spire Biomedical, in a press release. "We currently process hundreds of thousands of dental arch wires every year with our IonGuard process. This grant will help us to develop next-generation ceramic oxide coatings that promise even greater performance."
The coatings will effectively decouple sliding resistance from other mechanical properties of the arch wire, providing the practitioner with new tools for solving specific patient problems, he added.
"The program is targeting improved performance in nickel-titanium and titanium-molybdenum alloy wires, but the coatings should be applicable to other types of wires as well," Little said.
