In-situ nano-Ag coated gutta percha cones to counteract internal endodontic failures through bacterial infections

Root canal treatment is the most effective treatment for pulpal damage. But this treatment suffers major limitation i.e., bacterial infections lead to endodontic failures and flare-ups. To counteract bacterial infections, an anti-bacterial coating i.e., Ag NPs have been introduced over the gutta percha's surface (dental filler) through a simple in-situ coating technique. Further, the coating duration has been optimized to achieve an uniform Ag NPs coating. The coated Ag NPs are characterized using XRD where the phase is identified as face-centered cubic. FESEM analysis is performed for the gutta percha after being coated with Ag NPs for 30 min, 60 min, and 60 + 60 min where the FESEM images substantiate the fact as the coating time increases, the population of Ag NPs on gutta percha also increases and consequently, its anti-bacterial activity increases validated through the zone of inhibition and colony counting studies. The mechanism behind the antibacterial activity is elucidated using assays and found that Ag+ ionic release from the Ag NPs coated gutta percha is responsible. Moreover, the stability of the coating is assessed and found to display comparable antibacterial activity as that of the coated specimen (before stability testing) substantiating the durability of the coating. From all the obtained results, the coating system developed in this study can serve as a potential antibacterial coating for gutta percha.