Welcome to DEN6270!
The first course in dental biomaterials is Dental Biomaterials-I (DEN6270). This course gives you a general background about physical-mechanical properties, varnishes, liners, bases, amalgams, polymers in general, composites, bonding agents and sealants. The amount of material this course covers is extensive, and in an attempt to help you, this web site has been created. The primary objective is to give you the information related to each objective presented in the DEN6270 Syllabus.
Before we address the different objectives, the term "biomaterial" needs to be defined. A true biomaterial is a biological material that has been produced by biological processes. However, biomaterials have up until recently been man-made. These man-made material are used in an environment where they have been surrounded by biological tissues and/or fluids. This latter definition is the foundation for the term "dental biomaterials." Since some of the materials we use in dentistry are not surrounded by biological tissues and/or fluids (e.g. gypsum, investment materials and wax), some of the material we use are "dental materials" rather than "dental biomaterials." Thus, "dental materials" are any materials used in dentistry.
Through the years, the number of dental materials have increased considerably. During the past ten years, more materials have been introduced on the market than during all years of mankind preceding these ten years. Today there are thousands of different dental material brands available on the market, a market that makes about 6 billion dollars per year globally.
Because of the explosive development of dental materials during the past few years, it is fair to state that the majority of practicing dentists have a rather poor dental material education regarding understanding new developments. Traditionally, dentist were trained to remember particular product names rather than select products based on sound scientific principles. Unfortunately, this "heritage" is still haunting the profession, making the dentist an easy target for the marketing machine. Advertisements, often based on in vitro rather than in vivo findings, and comments by oppinion leaders, who often have not followed up the products over time, are still the two key factors that determines which product the clinician will choose.
To come to grip with the above limitations, it is important that the dentist of the future understands fundamental material principles and use these principles to select the best product available for a certain treatment. It is some of these principles DEN6270 intends to cover.
A. Introduction to Dental Biomaterials
D. Chemistry of Synthetic Resins
This page was last updated on 04/30/00.