Antimicrobial activity of nanoparticle-based dental fillers on novel chromogenic bacteria <i>Enterobacter ludwigii</i>

Abstract

Nanoparticles (NPs), like Graphene oxide (GONP), Hydroxyapatite (HAPNP) and Zirconia (ZrNP) are widely used for teeth filling. These NPs prove their efficacy in the field of dentistry by various means. However, the response of these filling nanoparticles in an infectious mouth is missing from the literature. The current study aims to investigate the antibacterial activity of these nanoparticles against novel chromogenic teeth bacteria Enterobacter ludwigii (S1) and Escherichia coli (S0) as a standard bacterium. Interaction of NPs with bacteria was monitored by varying the incubation time and concentration of NPs using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), fluorescence microscopy and zeta potential techniques. Amount of reactive oxygen species generated due to the NPs and the bacterial membrane were correlated with the survivability of the bacteria. The current findings hint that ZrNP is not an efficient dental filler in an infected mouth, as it is not relieving the microbial load in comparison with GO and HAP. Among GONP and HAPNP, GONP is the best filler followed by HAPNP since it can reduce the bacterial load significantly.