Clinical trials have identified secondary caries and bulk fracture as the main causes for composite restoration failure. As a measure to avoid frequent reinterventions for restoration replacement, composites with some sort of defense mechanism against biofilm formation and demineralization, as well as materials with lower susceptibility to crack propagation are necessary. Also, the restorative procedure with composites are very time-consuming and technically demanding, particularly concerning the application of the adhesive system. Therefore, together with bulk-fill composites, self-adhesive restorative composites could reduce operator error and chairside time. This literature review describes the current stage of development of remineralizing, antibacterial and self-healing composites. Also, an overview of the research on fiber-reinforced composites and self-adhesive composites, both introduced for clinical use in recent years, is presented.

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Guided by dentin biomechanical bioactivity, this phytochemical study led to the elucidation of an extended set of structurally demanding proanthocyanidins (PACs). Unambiguous structure determination involved detailed spectroscopic and chemical characterization of four A-type dimers (2 and 4−6), seven trimers (10−16), and six tetramers (17−22). New outcomes confirm the feasibility of determining the absolute configuration of the catechol monomers in oligomeric PACs by one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional (2D) NMR. Electronic circular dichroism as well as phloroglucinolysis followed by mass spectrometry and chiral phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis generated the necessary chiral reference data. In the context of previously reported dentin-bioactive PACs, accurately and precisely assigned 13 C NMR resonances enabled absolute stereochemical assignments of PAC monomers via (i) inclusion of the 13 C NMR γ-gauche effect and (ii) determination of differential 13 C chemical shift values (Δδ C ) in comparison with those of the terminal monomer (unit II) in the dimers 2 and 4−6. Among the 13 fully elucidated PACs, eight were identified as new, and one structure (11) was revised based on new knowledge gained regarding the subtle, stereospecific spectroscopic properties of PACs.

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