Composite materials: composition, properties and clinical applications. A literature review

Area of Science:

• Dental Materials Science
• Polymer Chemistry
• Biocompatibility Studies

Background:

• Hybrid composites, based on methacrylates, are widely used for direct dental restorations.
• Despite improvements, issues like polymerization shrinkage, bacterial adhesion, and monomer release persist.
• Alternative materials like Ormocers and Compomers have been developed with varying success.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review current advancements in dental restorative materials.
• To highlight the limitations of existing materials, particularly hybrid composites.
• To introduce siloranes as a new class of materials designed to address polymerization shrinkage.

Main Methods:

• Review of existing literature on dental composite materials.
• Discussion of material compositions, including methacrylates, silanes, Ormocers, and compomers.
• Introduction of siloranes and their unique chemical structure.

Main Results:

• Ormocers did not consistently improve biocompatibility.
• Compomers showed limited fluoride release and a short-term caries protective effect.
• Siloranes, utilizing ring-shaped molecules, aim to reduce polymerization shrinkage.

Conclusions:

• Ongoing research focuses on minimizing negative factors in dental composites.
• Siloranes represent a promising development for reducing polymerization shrinkage.
• Long-term clinical studies are essential to establish the efficacy of siloranes compared to hybrid composites.