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The formation and colonization of biofilms inside the oral cavity are still not understood in detail, although biofilms inside the oral cavity can lead to expensive dental diseases like caries, periodontitis, or the detachment of implants. Such biofilms consist, to a large extent, of proteins, carbohydrates, and other macromolecules. Whereas the interaction of proteins with dental materials is widely studied, the literature does not report interactions of polysaccharides. Here, scanning force spectroscopy is used to investigate the adhesion forces of dextran as an abundant polysaccharide on different dental materials. The focus is dental titanium, accompanied by comparisons with dental gold and silicon as reference material. Different pH values and dental materials mimic representative conditions in the oral cavity. The main finding is that dextran adheres very well to dental materials, but with lower adhesion forces than proteins of similar mass, such as bovine serum albumin. As proteins, the adhesion forces increase with the contact time until a plateau is reached and the forces differ with the dental material. However, in contrast to proteins, pH does not play a role because dextran is uncharged over the measured range between pH 4.5 and pH 13. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plant viruses are perfect candidates for the construction of nanobiotechnological devices. When employed in intricate 2D or 3D architectures, a stable, ordered virus layer, as the foundational plane, is a prerequisite. In former investigations, Coulomb‐force‐assisted self‐assembly is utilized. However, these layers demonstrate instability in further processing in a solution. In this study, an innovative strategy for immobilizing tomato bushy stunt viral (TBSV) nanoparticles through specific binding is reported on. Genetically engineered TBSV nanoparticles with Strep‐Tag II side chains are anchored using surface‐immobilized Strep‐Tactin. Strep‐Tactin, an engineered type of streptavidin with a strong specific interaction with the Strep‐Tag II protein, is immobilized on a silicon wafer through 3‐aminopropyltriethoxyilane and maleimide functionalization. Herein, the investigation involves optimizing the viral concentration and the pH values of the viral solution, facilitating the achievement of an optimal distribution of viral nanoparticles without vacancies during immobilization. The Strep‐Tactin/Strep‐Tag II system significantly improves the coverage of viral particles on the silicon substrate compared to the direct immobilization onto the untreated silicon substrate. The formed layers exhibit remarkable stability, even under sonication. To validate the findings, scanning force microscopy serves as a critical tool for imaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scanning force microscopy (SFM) is one of the most widely used techniques in biomaterials research. In addition to imaging the materials of interest, SFM enables the mapping of mechanical properties and biological responses with sub-nanometer resolution and piconewton sensitivity. This review aims to give an overview of using the scanning force microscope (SFM) for investigations on dental materials. In particular, SFM-derived methods such as force–distance curves (scanning force spectroscopy), lateral force spectroscopy, and applications of the FluidFM® will be presented. In addition to the properties of dental materials, this paper reports the development of the pellicle by the interaction of biopolymers such as proteins and polysaccharides, as well as the interaction of bacteria with dental materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]