PROCESS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR PREPARING PARTICULATE, BIOACTIVE OR RESORBABLE BIOSILICATES FOR USE IN THE TREATMENT OF ORAL AILMENTS

摘要

A process for preparing particulate, bioactive and resorbable biosilicates from vitreous plates or frits is described, which comprises thermally treating the vitreous plates or frits in a single or in two thermal treatment steps, at controlled temperatures and times, and then milling the crystallized glass to obtain crystallized bioactive or resorbable biosilicate powders of desired bioactivity, free from sharp, cutting edges, that in contact with body fluids produce a teeth-restoring hydroxycarbonate apatite layer or can be gradually replaced by dental tissue and resorbed. Alternatively, a vitreous powder is first obtained, which is then thermally treated to yield the crystalline, bioactive or resorbable powder, which is free from sharp cutting edges. For different process conditions, different crystalline phases are obtained so that it is possible to obtain a range of bioactive or resorbable silicates that may be used as such or combined in the treatment of different oral ailments such as dentine hypersensitivity, dental fissures and xerostomy. The biosilicate particle size distribution is between 0.1 and 30 microns.