The potential of three-dimensional printing technologies to unlock the development of new 'bio-inspired' dental materials: an overview and research roadmap.

PURPOSE

Bio-inspiration is an approach in engineering aimed at optimizing artificial systems by borrowing biological concepts from nature. This review sets out to summarize the fundamental aspects employed by nature to avoid premature dental failures. On the basis of these findings, it then defines and evaluates rules for 'post-modern' manufacturing processes to imitate or regenerate complex biological systems.

STUDY SELECTION

A thorough literature search was conducted using PubMed, the Cochrane Library database and Google Scholar. Peer-reviewed articles and other scientific literature provided up-to-date information addressing two topics: (a) how natural dental tissues combine to create a structure as tough, strong and highly resistant to fatigue failure as tooth, and (b) how 'bio-inspiration' can be applied to the manufacture of dental restorations, taking into consideration the limitations of techniques currently used in dentistry.

RESULTS

Bio-inspired concepts have already been successfully applied in a range of engineering fields to enhance the toughness and strength of artificial materials. The area of technology with greatest potential to unlock the development of these new approaches is additive manufacturing. Consequently, these technologies and concepts could be applied to dentistry to improve the mechanical properties of dental restorations. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technologies also offer a new and promising prospect of regenerating dental tissues.

CONCLUSIONS

Considering the limitations to both conventional and subtractive computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) methods, further research should focus on new, additive 3D-printing techniques. This may open new research paths in dentistry that will enhance the clinical performance of artificial dental materials.