Radiopaque dental materials with nano-sized particles
- Filed
- 28 October 1999
- Granted
- 14 May 2002
- Assignee
- 3M Innovative Properties Co
- Co-inventors
- Xiaodong Zhang, Brant Ulrick Kolb, Douglas Alan Hanggi, Paula D'Nell Ario, Richard Paul Rusin
Dental materials chemistry, nanotechnology
Sumita Mitra: inventions and patents
Known for First dental filling material containing nanoparticlesNationality Born in IndiaBorn 27 February 1949
Sumita Mitra is a chemist who joined 3M as a senior chemist in 1978 and in the 1990s worked with a multidisciplinary team that developed nanomeric and nanoclustered filler particles for Filtek Supreme Universal Restorative, which the National Inventors Hall of Fame describes as the first dental filling material to contain nanoparticles. The Hall of Fame says the product line has been used in more than 1 billion restorations. She retired from 3M in 2010, holds more than 100 US patents and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2018.1
Patents
Inventions
- Filtek Supreme Universal Restorative, 2002. A tooth-coloured nanoparticle dental composite that can restore teeth anywhere in the mouth. The first generation launched in 2002.1
Recognition
- 2018 Inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame1
- 2021 European Inventor Award, as listed by the National Inventors Hall of Fame1
- 2021 Elected to the National Academy of Engineering1
Sources
- National Inventors Hall of Fame, Sumita Mitra (accessed 2026-10-28)
- Google Patents, US6387981B1 Radiopaque dental materials with nano-sized particles (accessed 2026-10-28)