Bioactive Glass-Ceramics: An Essential Biomaterial for Dental Restoration

Tooth loss is an oral condition where in there is a loss/extraction of one or more tooth due to the complexity of biofilm dependent oral diseases, invasion of oral cariogenic bacteria, and/or physical damage. Dental restoration is a long-term remedy to restore the function, integrity, and morphology of the missing tooth structures using clinically approved smart restorative biomaterials in the form of dental crowns, fillers or bridges. Hence knowledge of material science and biomechanics along with dental sciences becomes essential when choosing and designing the restorative biomaterials. Therefore, this review focuses on studying one of the clinically successful restorative biomaterials, namely, Bioactive Glass-Ceramics. Bioactive glass-ceramic is a structurally crystalline biomaterial commercially used in the form of glass-based systems or glass-based filler systems or glass-based non-toxic metal systems or as polycrystalline solids which have an ability to mimic the optical, mechanical and biocompatibility properties of the enamel and dentine. The review also deals with the various types of bioactive glass-ceramics and their applications in healthcare. Ongoing research on bioactive glass-ceramics should focus on improving the chemistry, composition, micro and nanostructures. This can improve their biocompatibility, chemical and mechanical stability and revolutionize the use of these biomaterials in the healthcare industry. Keywords: Bioactive glass-ceramics, biofilm, dental restoration, polycrystalline solid, tooth loss Cite this Article Sravanti Vaidya, Malathi Challa, Mounika Rao, Shruthi Selvaraj, Amitha C.V. Bioactive Glass-Ceramics: An Essential Biomaterial for Dental Restoration. Research & Reviews: A Journal of Dentistry . 2019; 10(3): 1–6p.