Dental Materials & Biomaterials Program

The Dental Materials and Biomaterials Program supports development of innovative approaches to restore tissue function by replacement and/or enhancement of dental, oral and craniofacial tissues compromised by trauma or disease. NIDCR encourages basic and translational extramural research in dental materials, medical devices, biosensors, imaging, dental implants, biocompatibility of dental materials, and biomaterials for craniofacial restoration and reconstruction. In addition, this program encourages research that is responsive to product development efforts supported by SBIR and STTR programs. Technical areas covered by the dental materials and biomaterials program expand across material science, engineering, nanotechnology, chemistry, imaging, computer science, computational modeling, biology, physics, and interdisciplinary interactions.

Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to:

• Development of new dental materials and biomaterials to withstand the conditions of the oral cavity
• The effects of dental materials and biomaterials on the oral cavity and the effects of the oral environment on the dental materials and biomaterials
• Predictive and quantitative evaluation on life expectations of dental materials and biomaterials
• Interactions between caries development and progression and dental materials and biomaterials
• Development of new strategies to enhance osteoinduction, osteoconduction and osseointegration properties in implantable materials  
• Fatigue analysis
• New resin development to replace Bis-GMA based systems
• Biomimetic materials for tooth and craniofacial structures
• Comparative survival analysis of implant systems
• Influence and interaction of the resin matrix/filler interfaces
• Development of new materials with novel properties for the repair of tooth decay and periodontal disease
• Effect of oral biofilm formation on the degradation and leaching of dental materials and implants
• Smart materials to repair themselves and respond to initial breakdown of dental materials and provide preventive interaction
• Three dimensional, non-destructive, real-time imaging for material evaluation and degradation analysis
• Evaluation and enhancement of the tooth-adhesive-dental material interface
• Nano/smart materials to deliver fluoride for caries prevention
• Biocompatibility and functionality of dental restorative materials
• Biomaterials for craniofacial reconstruction
• Novel technologies, computational modeling and analytical techniques for material property determination and performance evaluation
• Physiochemistry of novel materials
• Clinical correlation of restorative materials in general practice
• Biosensors in the oral cavity to assess oral and systemic health