Supporting data for Use of bioactive materials in caries management

This is the data for a PhD thesis entitled Use of bioactive materials in caries management. This thesis includes seven components to explore the development of bioactive materials in dental caries treatment. The first part is a literature review summarising the available evidence on the outcomes of current bioactive materials in managing dental caries. Common bioactive materials for caries management include fluoride, calcium- and phosphate-based materials, graphene-based materials, metal-oxide nanomaterials, and peptide-based materials. Among these bioactive materials, antimicrobial peptides have attracted significant research interest recently. A bibliometric analysis was performed to explore and quantify the global research interest in antimicrobial peptides for caries management. This study included 163 publications, consisting of 115 laboratory studies (71%), 29 clinical trials (18%), and 19 reviews (11%). This analysis identified an increasing trend in global interest in antimicrobial peptides for caries management since 2002. Because natural antimicrobial peptides are unstable in the oral environment, researchers are working to develop novel synthetic antimicrobial peptides with improved stability and antimicrobial activities to aid in caries management. A systematic review investigated the methods to create novel peptides for caries management. This review analysed 62 studies, most with a medium risk of bias. Forty-seven studies reported 57 antimicrobial peptides, and ten studies reported mineralising peptides. The two most common methods for developing peptides for caries management used in these studies were the template-based design method and the conjugation method. Based on the template-based design and conjugation methods, we developed a novel anti-caries peptide Gallic acid-Polyphemusin-I (GAPI) by fusing Gallic acid (GA) with Polyphemusin-I (PI), demonstrating good biocompatibility and stability in human saliva. A multi-species cariogenic biofilm was developed, and GAPI was shown to have anti-biofilm capabilities. A chemical pH cycling model was used to illustrate the mineralizing properties of GAPI. In addition, the antibacterial effects of GAPI on common oral pathogens were also tested, showing its potential for managing oral infections. Further <i>in vitro</i> studies using biochemical model were performed to confirm the remineralising effects of GAPI on dentine caries. Artificial dentine carious lesions were created using <i>Streptococcus mutans</i> biofilm. This <i>in vitro</i> study demonstrated the anti-biofilm and remineralising effects of GAPI on <i>S. mutans</i> biofilm and artificial caries. In the future, additional <i>in vivo</i> studies using animal models should be undertaken to confirm the validity of the anti-caries peptide GAPI. Most of the data have been included in the main content of the thesis. This dataset provide some raw data of the thesis.