Novel and Emerging Materials Used in 3D Printing for Oral Health Care

3D printing is a revolutionary technique witnessed by the world in past some years and it has changed the face of almost all areas of life. A change in the paradigm from mechanical to biologic therapeutic solutions have been realized in health care, particularly, restoration of lost or damaged body parts with 3D printing. Oral health care is a wide scope area for immense applications from this latest technology. In order to tap the huge potential of 3D printing for dental applications, a great deal of research is going on for customized therapeutics catering to individual case conditions. Material science is undergoing tremendous growth to keep pace with the rapid rate of advances in imaging technologies for data capturing, information technologies devising newer design algorithms and devices and newer time and cost-effective printing machines. Diverse novel materials aimed at specific applications are being researched for providing optimized patient oral care. The current chapter provides an update of the materials used in most common oral health care applications and discusses the future trends and issues pertaining to material perspectives in oral health care management.