Technologies

A Dental Gel That Regenerates Your Enamel and Removes Cavities? What to Know

A product in development may use your saliva to regenerate enamel. Here’s how it works.

Dental fillings aren’t a pleasant way to fix cavities but they’re necessary to fill holes and prevent further damage. But now a research team at the University of Nottingham in the UK is working on a gel that could help prevent tooth decay and regenerate damaged tooth enamel.

According to research published in the journal Nature Communications this month, the gel works by containing a modified version of amelogenin, a protein that helps guide the growth of enamel in infants. The gel fills holes and cracks in the teeth when applied.

«The gel was able to grow crystals epitaxially, which means it’s in the same crystallographic orientation as existing enamel,» Alvaro Mata, a professor in Biomedical Engineering and Biomaterials at the University of Nottingham, told New Scientist.

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Enamel is the hard layer of the tooth that shields the softer inner layers from damage caused by general wear and tear, acid and bacteria. Tooth decay happens when the enamel layer breaks down. Enamel doesn’t regenerate naturally, and while fluoride treatment and remineralization toothpaste that uses nano-hydroxyapatite can offer a temporary fix, they aren’t a permanent solution, unlike getting a dental filling.

The new gel creates a thin yet durable layer that adheres to the teeth for several weeks, using calcium and phosphate to stimulate the growth of new crystals in the enamel. In a separate email interview with CNET Mata explained how long he expects the gel to last. «The gel is biodegradable and the process to remineralize takes approximately two weeks.It is applied once, and it will endure as native enamel would, depending on people’s health habits.»

Research shows it works on heavily damaged enamel

«Dental enamel has a unique structure, which gives enamel its remarkable properties that protect our teeth throughout life against physical, chemical and thermal insults,» said Dr. Abshar Hasan, a postdoctoral fellow and leading author of the study. «When our material is applied to demineralized or eroded enamel, or exposed dentine, the material promotes the growth of crystals in an integrated and organized manner, recovering the architecture of our natural, healthy enamel.»

This process was effective even when the enamel was severely worn and the dentine below was exposed, according to the research.

«If used as a preventive solution, it can avoid getting to the dental filling stage,» said Mata. «In a way, it needs to be managed as a chronic disease where patients need to start at home with more education and care. Having said this, we have been working on this for 16 years, which has allowed us to develop quite a bit of know-how to understand, control and shape the technology. Because of this, we now have a versatile technology that will derive into multiple types of products. I believe that in the future, dental fillings will be a possibility.»

Mata says he’s «very excited because the technology has been designed with the clinician and patient in mind. It is safe, can be easily and rapidly applied, and it is scalable.» He’s started a startup called Mintech-Bio and hopes to have the first product out next year, according to New Scientist, following the clinical trial.

Dentists are cautiously optimistic

CNET reached out to several dentists to get their perspective on the gel.

Bianca Velayo, general dentist in Henderson, Nevada, and multi-practice owner at PDS Health, was cautious about the timeline.

«Dental materials like this rarely hit the market overnight, even with exciting results,» she says. «After early lab success, the real test is how it performs in the human mouth under real-world conditions: heat, saliva, bacteria, diet and daily habits. Between lab research, multiple trial phases and regulatory approval, it usually takes 5 to 10 years before we’d see a material like this in everyday dental use.»

However, Velayo also says she’s excited about the prospect of these replacing traditional dental fillings in the future.

«This gel hints at the future of dentistry, where we could actually regrow what’s been lost. It’s the difference between repairing and truly healing the tooth,» she says.

Another dentist and multi-practice owner at PDS Health, Ahmad Mokbil, said that the treatment has potential but he doesn’t believe it’ll be possible anytime soon, as it requires a shift in educating patients, dentists, dental coverage and treatment protocols. However, he pointed to existing technology that’s in use.

«We use an FDA-approved treatment called Curodont, which has similar characteristics and is effective for treating early tooth decay,» Mokbil says. «The number of applications required can vary depending on how the tooth responds, the size of the cavity and how early the intervention takes place.»

Technologies

Google races to put Gemini at the center of Android before Apple’s AI reboot

Google is using its latest Android rollout to position Gemini as the AI layer across phones, Chrome, laptops and cars.

Google is using its latest Android rollout to make Gemini less of a chatbot and more of an operating layer across the phone, browser, car and laptop, just weeks before Apple is expected to show its own Gemini-powered Apple Intelligence reboot at WWDC.
Ahead of its Google I/O developer conference next week, the company previewed a number of Android updates, including AI-powered app automation, a smarter version of Chrome on Android, new tools for creators, a redesigned Android Auto experience, and a sweeping set of new security features.
Alphabet is counting on Gemini to help Google compete directly with OpenAI and Anthropic in the market for artificial intelligence models and services, while also serving as the AI backbone across its expansive portfolio of products, including Android. Meanwhile, Gemini is powering part of Apple’s new AI strategy, giving Google a role in the iPhone maker’s reset even as it races to prove its own version of personal AI on the phone is further along.
Sameer Samat, who oversees Google’s Android ecosystem, told CNBC that Google is rebuilding parts of Android around Gemini Intelligence to help users complete everyday tasks more easily.
“We’re transitioning from an operating system to an intelligence system,” he said.
As part of Tuesday’s announcements. Google said Gemini Intelligence will be able to move across apps, understand what’s on the screen and complete tasks that would normally require a user to jump between multiple services. That means Android is moving beyond the traditional assistant model, where users ask a question and get an answer, and acting more like an agent.
For instance, Google says Gemini can pull relevant information from Gmail, build shopping carts and book reservations. Samat gave the example of asking Gemini to look at the guest list for a barbecue, build a menu, add ingredients to an Instacart list and return for approval before checkout.
A big concern surrounding agentic AI involves software taking action on a user’s behalf without permissions. Samat said Gemini will come back to the user before completing a transaction, adding, “the human is always in the loop.”
Four months after announcing its Gemini deal with Google, Apple is under pressure to show a more capable version of Apple Intelligence, which has been a relative laggard on the market. Apple has long framed privacy, hardware integration and control of the user experience as its advantages.
Google’s Android push is designed to show it can bring AI deeper into the device experience while still giving users control over what Gemini can see, where it can act and when it needs confirmation.
The app automation features will roll out in waves, starting with the latest Samsung Galaxy and Google Pixel phones this summer, before expanding across more Android devices, including watches, cars, glasses and laptops later this year.
The company is also redesigning Android Auto around Gemini, turning the car into another major surface for its assistant. Android Auto is in more than 250 million cars, and Google says the new release includes its biggest maps update in a decade and Gemini-powered help with tasks like ordering dinner while driving.
Alphabet’s AI strategy has been embraced by Wall Street, which has pushed the company’s stock price up more than 140% in the past year, compared to Apple’s roughly 40% gain. Investors now want to see how Gemini can become more central to the products people use every day.
WATCH: Alphabet briefly tops Nvidia after report of $200 billion Anthropic cloud deal

Technologies

Waymo recalls 3,800 robotaxis after glitch allowed some vehicles to ‘drive into standing water’

Waymo issued a voluntary recall of about 3,800 of its robotaxis to fix software issues that could allow them to drive into flooded roadways.

Waymo is recalling about 3,800 robotaxis in the U.S. to fix software issues that could allow them to “drive onto a flooded roadway,” according to a letter on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website.
The voluntary recall is for Waymo vehicles that use the company’s fifth and sixth generation automated driving systems (or ADS), the U.S. auto safety regulator said in the letter posted Tuesday.
Waymo autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, were seen on camera driving onto a flooded street and stalling, requiring other drivers to navigate around them. It’s the latest example of a safety-related issue for the Alphabet-owned AV unit that’s rapidly bolstering its fleet of vehicles and entering new U.S. markets.
Waymo has drawn criticism for its vehicles failing to yield to school buses in Austin, and for the performance of its vehicles during widespread power outages in San Francisco in December, when robotaxis halted in traffic, causing gridlock.
The company said in a statement on Tuesday that it’s “identified an area of improvement regarding untraversable flooded lanes specific to higher-speed roadways,” and opted to file a “voluntary software recall” with the NHTSA.
“Waymo provides over half a million trips every week in some of the most challenging driving environments across the U.S., and safety is our primary priority,” the company said.
Waymo added that it’s working on “additional software safeguards” and has put “mitigations” in place, limiting where its robotaxis operate during extreme weather, so that they avoid “areas where flash flooding might occur” in periods of intense rain.
WATCH: Waymo launches new autonomous system in Chinese-made vehicle

Technologies

Qualcomm tumbles 13% as semiconductor stocks retreat from historic AI-fueled surge

Semiconductor equities reversed sharply after a broad AI-driven advance, with Qualcomm suffering its worst day since 2020 amid inflation concerns and rising oil prices.

Semiconductor stocks fell sharply on Tuesday, reversing course after an extensive rally that had expanded the artificial intelligence investment theme well past Nvidia and driven the industry to unprecedented levels.

Qualcomm plunged 13% and was on track for its steepest single-day decline since 2020. Intel shed 8%, while On Semiconductor and Skyworks Solutions each lost more than 6%. The iShares Semiconductor ETF, which benchmarks the overall sector, fell 5%.

The sell-off came after a key gauge of consumer prices came in above forecasts, and as conflict in Iran pushed crude oil higher—prompting investors to shift away from riskier assets.

The preceding advance had widened the AI opportunity set beyond longtime industry leader Nvidia, which for much of the past several years had largely carried the market to new peaks on its own.

Explosive appetite for central processing units, along with the graphics processing units that power large language models, has sent chipmakers to all-time highs.

Market participants are wagering that the shift from AI model training to autonomous agents will lift demand for additional AI hardware. Among the beneficiaries are memory chip producers, which are raising prices as supply remains tight.

Micron Technology slid 6%, and Sandisk cratered 8%. Sandisk’s stock has surged more than six times over since January.