Polymers

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Dear Colleagues,

In recent years, numerous polymeric dental materials have been developed with the aim of reconstructing and maintaining the oral function, health, and aesthetics of patients. Although, among these materials, resin-based composites are possibly the most important on the basis of aesthetics and performance, these synthetic materials are utilized in all aspects of the field of dentistry. The latest developments in new bioactive polymers and the ongoing advancements in both digitalization and guided treatments have further broadened the fields of their application.

Thus, the subject of advanced dental polymeric materials is interdisciplinary and may comprise a wide range of research topics.

The aim of this Special Issue is to gather the latest original research studies that involve polymer materials in the field of dentistry. We look forward to receiving your manuscripts concerning this field. Both research articles and review articles are welcome.

Dr. Márk Fráter
Dr. Edina Lempel
Dr. Daniel Palkovics
Guest Editors

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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

resin composite
direct restorations
indirect restoration
fiber reinforcement
dental polymers
material science
biomechanical testing
monomer
polymerization

Published Papers (1 paper)

Research

20 pages, 4813 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Conventional Dental Impressions vs. Impressions Reinforced with Rigid Mouthguards

by Andreea Codruta Novac, Anca Tudor, Daniela Maria Pop, Carina Sonia Neagu, Emanuela Lidia Crăciunescu, Mihai Romînu, Meda Lavinia Negruțiu, Virgil-Florin Duma and Cosmin Sinescu

Polymers 2024, 16(7), 994; https://doi.org/10.3390/polym16070994 - 4 Apr 2024

Viewed by 568

Abstract

The impression materials utilized today in dental medicine offer a good reproducibility and are easily accepted by patients. However, because they are polymer-based, they have issues regarding their dimensional stability. In this respect, the present work proposes a new type of dental impression, which is reinforced with rigid mouthguards. The aim of the study is to test the performances of such new impressions by comparing them to conventional ones—from this critical point of view, of the dimensional stability. Three types of polymeric materials were considered for both types of impressions: alginate, condensation silicone, and addition silicone. In order to obtain the new type of impressions, a manufacturing technique was developed, comprising the following phases: (i) conventional impressions were made; (ii) a plaster model was duplicated, and 15 rigid mouthguards were obtained; (iii) they were inserted in the impression technique, with each mouthguard positioned on the cast before the high-consistency material was inserted in the tray and the practitioner took the impression; (iv) the mouthguard remained in the tray and the low-viscosity material was inserted over the mouthguard; (v) the impression was positioned on the model, and after the material hardened, the mouthguard-reinforced impression was analyzed. In the evaluation of the dimensional stability, rigorous statistical analysis was essential to discern the performance differences between conventional and mouthguard-reinforced dental impressions. Statistical analyses employed non-parametric Mann–Whitney U tests because of the non-normal distribution of the data. They indicated a statistically significant improvement in the dimensional stability of addition silicone impressions when reinforced with mouthguards (p < 0.05), showcasing superior performance over conventional methods. Conversely, alginate and condensation silicone reinforced impressions did not exhibit the same level of stability improvement, suggesting the need for further optimization of these materials. In conclusion, from the three considered elastomers, addition silicone was found to be the prime candidate for high-precision dental impressions, with the potential to improve their quality from conventional impressions by utilizing the proposed reinforcing technique. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Advanced Polymeric Materials for Dental Applications III)

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