Indian-origin scientist's invention makes tooth extraction painless

, Aug 30: Most of us fear a trip to the dentist's clinic but now there is a way that experience can be painless, thanks to a gum scaffold.

An Indian-origin scientist has emerged as a star in Singapore after an invention that will help one to ease the pain of tooth extraction, earning him praise from even the city-state's Prime Minister.

Dr Margam Chandrasekaran, whose family hails from Thanjavur in Tamil Nadu, led a team of seven to eight researchers, who invented a tiny cylindrical bone tissue scaffold that helps with bone growth and retain the gum's shape after tooth extraction, a Singaporean Indian community weekly 'Tabla!' reported.

The scaffold is made from a bio-polymer which disintegrates within two to six months. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong praised Chandrasekaran's work in his National Day Rally on August 18 while highlighting inventions by Singaporeans.

The scaffold will be available in India shortly and is already available in the United Kingdom, Taiwan and Singapore. Chandrasekaran, who came here from Chennai in 1995, started his research on bio-scaffold in 2007, after getting his PhD from the National Technological University of Singapore.

PTI