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Polymers and Polymer Composites for Dental Application

A special issue of Polymers (ISSN 2073-4360). This special issue belongs to the section "Polymer Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2025 | Viewed by 3453

Special Issue Editor

Department of Biomaterials, Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Science, Okayama University, Okayama 700-8525, Japan
Interests: biomaterial; resin composite; luting agents; core build-up materials
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Polymer composite materials are widely used in the dental field in clinics as a biomaterial or functional material. For example, they have been used as a composite material, a type of biomaterials, to repair caries and restore masticatory function, and as a luting agent to adhere the restoration to the tooth substrate. 

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to submit an original manuscript  investigating methods for intraoral restorative composite materials or a comprehensive review on dental polymer materials for this Special Issue. Contributions including research articles, communications, and reviews from experts all over the world are welcome.

Dr. Masao Irie
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Polymers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • biomaterial
  • dental composite
  • luting agents
  • application
  • in oral cavity

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

12 pages, 1202 KiB  
Article
Comparative Evaluation of Dental Clinical Surface Treatments for Polyetheretherketone with Airborne-Particle Abrasion, Hydrofluoric Acid Etching, and Handheld Nonthermal Plasma Activation on Long-Term Bond Performance
by Szu-Yu Lai, Szu-I Lin, Chia-Wei Chang, Yi-Rou Shen, Yuichi Mine, Zih-Chan Lin, Mei-Ling Fang, Chia-Chih Sung, Chien-Fu Tseng, Tzu-Yu Peng and Chiang-Wen Lee
Polymers 2025, 17(11), 1448; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym17111448 - 23 May 2025
Viewed by 81
Abstract
Polyaryletherketone (PAEK) materials, including polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyetherketoneketone (PEKK), possess excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility; however, their inherently low surface energy limits effective bonding with resin cements. This study investigated the effects of hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching and handheld nonthermal plasma (HNP) treatment [...] Read more.
Polyaryletherketone (PAEK) materials, including polyetheretherketone (PEEK) and polyetherketoneketone (PEKK), possess excellent mechanical properties and biocompatibility; however, their inherently low surface energy limits effective bonding with resin cements. This study investigated the effects of hydrofluoric acid (HF) etching and handheld nonthermal plasma (HNP) treatment on enhancing the adhesive performance of PAEK surfaces. Disk-shaped PEEK (BP) and PEKK (PK) specimens were divided into four groups: APA (airborne-particle abrasion), PLA (nonthermal plasma treatment), LHF (5.0% HF), and HHF (9.5% HF). Surface characterization was performed using a thermal field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM). Surface wettability was evaluated using contact angle goniometry. Cytotoxicity was evaluated using HGF-1 cells exposed to conditioned media and analyzed via PrestoBlue assays. Shear bond strength (SBS) was measured after three aging conditions—NT (no aging), TC (thermocycling), and HA (highly accelerated aging)—using a light-curing resin cement. Failure modes were categorized, and statistical analysis was performed using one-way and two-way ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD test (α = 0.05). Different surface treatments did not affect surface characterization. PLA treatment significantly improved surface wettability, resulting in the lowest contact angles among all groups, followed by HF etching (HHF > LHF), while APA showed the poorest hydrophilicity. Across all treatments, PK exhibited better wettability than BP. Cytotoxicity results confirmed that all surface treatments were nontoxic to HGF-1 cells, indicating favorable biocompatibility. SBS testing demonstrated that PLA-treated specimens achieved the highest and most stable bond strength across all aging conditions. Although HF-treated groups exhibited lower bond strength overall, BP samples treated with HF showed relatively less reduction following aging. Failure mode analysis revealed a shift from mixture and cohesive failures in the NT aging condition to predominantly adhesive failures after TC and HA aging conditions. Notably, the PLA-treated groups retained mixture failure patterns even after aging, suggesting improved interfacial durability. Among the tested methods, PLA treatment was the most effective strategy, enhancing surface wettability, bond strength, and aging resistance without compromising biocompatibility. In summary, the PLA demonstrated the greatest clinical potential for improving the adhesive performance of PAEK when used with light-curing resin cements. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers and Polymer Composites for Dental Application)
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15 pages, 2229 KiB  
Article
Long-Term Bonding Performance of One-Bottle vs. Two-Bottle Bonding Agents to Lithium Disilicate Ceramics
by Masao Irie, Masahiro Okada, Yukinori Maruo, Goro Nishigawa and Takuya Matsumoto
Polymers 2024, 16(16), 2266; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16162266 - 9 Aug 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1562
Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the long-term bonding performance to lithium disilicate (LDS) ceramic between one-bottle and two-bottle bonding agents. Bonding performance was investigated under these LDS pretreatment conditions: with hydrofluoric acid (HF) only, without HF, with a two-bottle bonding [...] Read more.
The aim of this study was to compare the long-term bonding performance to lithium disilicate (LDS) ceramic between one-bottle and two-bottle bonding agents. Bonding performance was investigated under these LDS pretreatment conditions: with hydrofluoric acid (HF) only, without HF, with a two-bottle bonding agent (Tokuyama Universal Bond II) only. Shear bond strengths between LDS and nine resin cements (both self-adhesive and conventional adhesive types) were measured at three time periods: after one-day water storage (Base), and after 5000 and 20,000 thermocycles (TC 5k and TC 20k respectively). Difference in degradation between one- and two-bottle bonding agents containing the silane coupling agent was compared by high-performance liquid chromatography. With HF pretreatment, bond strengths were not significantly different among the three time periods for each resin cement. Without HF, ESTECEM II and Super-Bond Universal showed significantly higher values than others at TC 5k and TC 20k when treated with the recommended bonding agents, especially at TC 20k. Difference in degradation between one- and two-bottle bonding agents containing the silane coupling agent was compared by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). For both cements, these values at TC 20k were also not significantly different from pretreatment with only Tokuyama Universal Bond II. For LDS, long-term bond durability could be maintained by pretreatment with Tokuyama Universal Bond II instead of the hazardous HF. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers and Polymer Composites for Dental Application)
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11 pages, 787 KiB  
Article
Investigation on the Biaxial Flexural Strength of Universal Shade Resin-Based Composites
by Keiko Sakuma, Taku Horie, Takafumi Kishimoto, Mayumi Maesako, Shigetaka Tomoda, Morioki Fujitani and Akimasa Tsujimoto
Polymers 2024, 16(13), 1853; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16131853 - 28 Jun 2024
Viewed by 1294
Abstract
The biaxial flexural strength of universal shade and conventional dental resin-based composites before and after alkaline degradation was investigated. Disk samples were prepared from these resin-based composites, and some of the specimens were immersed in 0.1 M NaOH solution to create deteriorated samples. [...] Read more.
The biaxial flexural strength of universal shade and conventional dental resin-based composites before and after alkaline degradation was investigated. Disk samples were prepared from these resin-based composites, and some of the specimens were immersed in 0.1 M NaOH solution to create deteriorated samples. The biaxial flexural strength of the samples before and after the alkaline degradation test was measured and statistically tested. The fracture surfaces after the biaxial flexural test were observed using a scanning electron microscope. The results showed that the biaxial flexural strength of the paste-type universal shade resin-based composite before alkaline degradation was significantly (19%) higher than that of the conventional type, but no difference was observed between the materials after alkaline degradation. On the other hand, the biaxial flexural strength of the flowable universal shade resin-based composites was significantly (around 35%) lower than that of the conventional composite, with or without degradation. Although, for paste-type materials, the biaxial flexural strength of universal shade resin-based composites was higher than that of conventional resin-based composites before alkaline degradation, after degradation the two materials showed similar values. For flowable materials, the biaxial flexural strength of universal shade resin-based composites was lower than that of conventional resin-based composites regardless of the presence or absence of degradation processes. These results suggest that some caution should be used when deciding whether to use flowable universal shade resin-based composite to fill a cavity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Polymers and Polymer Composites for Dental Application)
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