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An IIT Kharagpur alumnus ProfessorAmbarish Ghosh and his team of IISc students incubated the 'Theranautilus' start-up. Under the start-up, the team successfully utilized the nano-sized robots to kill bacteria inside dentinal tubules using a magnetic field. This also boosted significantly the success of root canal treatments.

The study has also been published in Advanced Healthcare Materials. As per the publication, the helical nanobots constituted of silicon dioxide and coated with iron have been designed by the researchers and these can be controlled by generating a low-intensity magnetic field. Then, these bots are injected into an extracted sample of the tooth. The movements of the bots are tracked through a microscope.

The researchers can also make the nanobots move at will by adjusting the frequency of the magnetic field and this will help in deep and more effective penetration.

Root canal treatments are conducted to treat tooth infections and the process involves the removal of the infected tissue and the antibiotic flush to kill the bacteria.

The co-founder of the start-up and the Research Associate at CeNSE (Centre for Nano Science & Engineering), IISc Debayan Dasgupta informed that the manipulation of the magnetic field can make the surface of the bots generate heat to kill the nearby bacteria. He added, "No other technology in the market can do this right now".

The team has successfully tested the dental nanobots in mice models.

Prof Ghosh also said, "We are very close to deploying this technology in a clinical setting, which was considered futuristic even 03 years ago".