The treatment of severe gum disease has long faced a fundamental limitation: existing therapies can control infection and inflammation, but they cannot rebuild the bone and tissue that periodontitis destroys. A new biomaterial developed by researchers in Brazil — made from three ingredients that would look more at home in a kitchen than a pharmacy — may be closing that gap simultaneously.
ScienceDaily reported on June 19, 2026 on research published in Polymer Bulletin by scientists at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) in Sorocaba, Brazil, led by Professor Eliana Aparecida de Rezende Duek. The team developed a biomaterial combining jackfruit latex, pomegranate peel extract, and simvastatin — a cholesterol-lowering drug — into a mucoadhesive gel that, in early laboratory testing, demonstrated infection control, anti-inflammatory activity, and the ability to promote bone-forming tissue growth within 14 to 21 days.
