Review Article

Year : 2017 | Volume : 2 | Issue : 2| Page : 55-59

Smart Materials‐making Pediatric Dentistry Bio‐smart

Parul Jain, Rahul Kaul, Subrata Saha, Subir Sarkar

Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry, Dr. R Ahmed Dental College and Hospital, Kolkata, West Bengal, India

Address for correspondence:

Dr. Parul Jain,

Room No. 2C, Department of Pedodontics and Preventive Dentistry,Dr. R Ahmed Dental College and Hospital, 114, AJC Bose Road, Kolkata ‐ 700 014, West Bengal, India.

E‐mail: pjain2389@gmail.com

Abstract

As of now, there has been no single material in dentistry that fulfills all the requirements of an ideal material. While the search for an “ideal material” continues, a newer generation of materials has been introduced. The adjective “smart” implies that these materials are able to sense changes in their environments and then respond to these changes in predetermined manners – traits that are also found in living organisms. These materials may be altered in a controlled fashion by stimulus such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, and electric or magnetic field. Some of these are “bio-mimetic” in nature while others are “bio-responsive.” These materials would potentially allow new and groundbreaking dental therapies with a significantly enhanced clinical outcome of the treatment procedures. This paper attempts to highlight some of the currently available “smart materials” in pediatric dentistry which may over the course of years help us move toward a new era of bio-smart dentistry.

Keywords: Biomimetic, bioresponsive, bio‐smart dentistry, materials, pediatric dentistry, smart

Financial support and sponsorship

Nil.

Conflicts of interest

There are no conflicts of interest.

How to cite this article: Jain P, Kaul R, Saha S, Sarkar S. Smart materials- making pediatric dentistry bio-smart. Int J Pedod Rehabil 2017;2:55-9.