Dentistry, as a branch of medicine, has undergone continuous evolution over time. The scientific world has focused its attention on the development of new methods and materials with improved properties that meet the needs of patients. For this purpose, the replacement of so-called “passive” dental materials that do not interact with the oral environment with “smart/intelligent” materials that have the capability to change their shape, color, or size in response to an externally stimulus, such as the temperature, pH, light, moisture, stress, electric or magnetic fields, and chemical compounds, has received much attention in recent years. A strong trend in dental applications is to apply nanotechnology and smart nanomaterials such as nanoclays, nanofibers, nanocomposites, nanobubbles, nanocapsules, solid-lipid nanoparticles, nanospheres, metallic nanoparticles, nanotubes, and nanocrystals. Among the nanomaterials, the smart nanoparticles present several advantages compared to other materials, creating the possibility to use them in various dental applications, including preventive dentistry, endodontics, restoration, and periodontal diseases. This review is focused on the recent developments and dental applications (drug delivery systems and restoration materials) of smart nanoparticles.
Starting from glycidyl methacrylate, three dimethacrylic monomers (mono, di and triethylene glycol dimethacrylate) and chitosan, various types of porous microparticles were obtained by suspension polymerization technique. Also, using the same technique the un‐grafted porous microparticles were obtained by reaction between glycidyl methacrylate and dimethacrylic monomers. The successful grafting reaction of chitosan onto synthetic polymer networks was highlighted by FTIR spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, atomic force microscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The dimensional analysis of all type of microparticles was performed by laser diffraction while the specific surface areas were determined by means of dynamic vapor sorption. Grafting of polysaccharide onto crosslinked networks has led to the preparation of polymeric materials with high specific surface area (50‐160 m2/g) and better swelling capacities (101‐106%) compared to microparticles based on glycidyl methacrylate and dimethacrylic monomers [(31‐69 m2/g) and (39‐57%), respectively]. Furthermore, the sorption properties of grafted and un‐grafted microparticles were tested using Cu(II) solution. The highest retention capacity value of Cu(II) (41.7 mg/g) was obtained when the C1 microparticles were used in the adsorption studies.
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