Smart Materials for Smart Dentistry

Abstract

The need of the hour is to introduce dental materials that have biomimicking properties of natural tooth structure. Various biocompatible materials have been introduced and widely used in many areas of dentistry. The smart behaviour of materials occurs when it senses some stimulus from the surrounding environment and reacts to it in a useful, reproducible, and mostly reversible manner. These materials can be altered in a controlled manner by various stimuli such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, and electric or magnetic field. A key feature of smart behaviour includes its ability to return to the original state after the stimulus is removed. The different types of smart materials used in the field of dentistry are piezoelectric materials, shape memory alloys or shape memory polymers, pH-sensitive polymers, polymer gels, and others that have shown their own smart materials. Some of these materials used are resin-modified glass ionomers, amorphous calcium phosphate-releasing pit and fissure sealants, smart composites, smart ceramics, compomers, orthodontic shape-memory alloys, smart impression materials, smart sutures, smart burs, smart endodontic files, etc.