What are nanorobots and how can they be used to clean teeth? – Technology News, Firstpost

Explainers FPMay 17, 2022 4:48:58 PM IST

If all goes as planned, root canal treatments may not be as painful as before. Researchers from the Indian Science Institute (IISc) in Bangalore have developed tiny nanorobots to help treat root canals.

However, what are nanorobots? What role do they play? Why are they called the future of medicine?

We answer these questions and explain how nanorobots are used to clean teeth.

Nanorobots explained

Nanorobots are robots that are microscopic in nature, measured mostly in nanometers. Nanorobots are also known as nanomachines, nanorobots, nanomites, nanites or nanoids.

According to Technopediathe idea of ​​nanorobots is to have a device that can interact on a nanoscale and help in understanding or manipulating structures at the nanoscale level.

Most theorists attribute the concept of nanotechnology to physicist Richard Feynman and his speech in 1959 entitled: “There is a lot of space at the bottom.” In his speech, Feynman predicted the development of machines that could be miniaturized, and vast amounts of information were coded in tiny spaces. However, it was Eric Drexler’s 1986 book, Engines of Creation: The Next Era of Nanotechnology, that intensified the nanotechnology doctrine.

The size of nanorobots has made their application most relevant in medical science. Experts note that they can be used to help in research related to cancer, AIDS and other serious diseases, as well as in research on the brain, heart and diabetes.

Apart from medicine, nanorobots can be useful in aerospace, security, defense, electronics and the environment.

The use of nanorobots for dental treatment

On Monday, researchers from IISc announced that they had created nanorobots that could be used to pass through dentinal tubules and kill bacteria.

An NDTV The report says the researchers have created nanorobots made of silicon dioxide and coated with iron that can be controlled by a device that creates a low-intensity magnetic field. This new technique and study was published in the journal Advanced Healthcare Materials.

Explaining how this works, the researchers said that nanorobots developed in the startup Theranautilus, incubated with IISc, were introduced into extracted tooth samples, and their movement was monitored with a microscope.

IISc said that by changing the frequency of the magnetic field, the researchers were able to get the nanorobots to move at will and penetrate deep inside the dentinal tubules. They manipulated the magnetic field to cause the surface of the nanorobots to generate heat that could kill bacteria nearby.

Welcoming the success of their research, Ambarish Ghosh, a professor at the Center for Nanoscience and Technology who led the study, quoted NDTV, “These studies have shown that they are safe for use in biological tissues. We are very close to deploying this technology in a clinical setting that three years ago was considered futuristic. It is gratifying to see how simple scientific curiosity is turning into a medical intervention that can affect millions of people in India alone. ”

Another use of nanorobots in medicine

In addition to the use of nanorobots in dentistry, scientists have also used nanorobots to fight bacteria in the wound.

Researchers from the Institute of Bioengineering of Catalonia in a study published in the ACS, said they used nanorobots to deliver essential drugs to the wound, “immersing” in a liquid medium and thus destroying pathogens.

In December 2021, the Maharashtra Institute of Medical Education and Research (MIMER), Pune, developed a nanorobot that is programmed to capture and isolate circulating tumor cells.

The tool has been appreciated as it will lead to a new fast and accurate method of diagnosing cancer.

With the participation of agencies

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