Revolutionizing Dental Polymers: The Versatility and Future Potential of Polyetheretherketone in Restorative Dentistry.

Polyetheretherketone (PEEK) has emerged as a revolutionary material in modern dentistry because of its unique combination of mechanical strength, biocompatibility, and versatility. This literature review examines the current applications and future potential of PEEK in various dental disciplines. PEEK's favorable properties, including its low specific weight, high strength-to-weight ratio, and ability to be easily machined, have led to its adoption in prosthetics, implantology, and dental esthetic restorations.

Improved Mechanical Properties and Bioactivity of Silicate Based Bioceramics Reinforced Poly(ether-ether-ketone) Nanocomposites for Prosthetic Dental Implantology.

Polyether-ether-ketone (PEEK) biomaterial has been increasingly employed for orthopedic, trauma, spinal, and dental implants due to its biocompatibility and in vivo stability. However, a lack of bioactivity and binding ability to natural bone tissue has significantly limited PEEK for many challenging dental implant applications. In this work, nanocomposites based on PEEK reinforced with bioactive silicate-based bioceramics (forsterite or bioglass) as nanofillers were prepared using high energy ball milling followed by melt blending and compression molding.

A review on alloy design, biological response, and strengthening of β-titanium alloys as biomaterials.

From the past few years, developments of β-Ti alloys have been the subject of active research in the medical domain. The current paper highlights significant findings in the area of β-Ti alloy design, biological responses, strengthening mechanisms, and developing low-cost implants with a high degree of biocompatibility. It is evident that an astonishing demand for developing the low modulus-high strength implants can be fulfilled by synchronizing β stabilizer content and incorporating tailored thermo-mechanical techniques.

Ni-free, built-in nanotubular drug eluting stents: Experimental and theoretical insights.

Stents used for cardiovascular applications are composed of three main elements; a metal, polymer coating and the specific drug component. Nickel-based metals and polymer coatings currently used in the stent market have increased the recurrence of in-stent restenosis and stent failure due to inflammation. In this study, a Ti-8Mn alloy was used to fabricate a nanostructured surface that can be used for drug eluting stents to overcome the hypersensitivity of metals that are currently used in stent making as well as introducing a new built-in nano-drug reservoir instead of polymer coatings.

Biocompatibility of Ti-alloys for long-term implantation.

The design of new low-cost Ti-alloys with high biocompatibility for implant applications, using ubiquitous alloying elements in order to establish the strategic method for suppressing utilization of rare metals, is a challenge. To meet the demands of longer human life and implantation in younger patients, the development of novel metallic alloys for biomedical applications is aiming at providing structural materials with excellent chemical, mechanical and biological biocompatibility. It is, therefore, likely that the next generation of structural materials for replacing hard human tissue would be of those Ti-alloys that do not contain any of the cytotoxic elements, elements suspected of causing neurological disorders or elements that have allergic effect.

A new look at biomedical Ti-based shape memory alloys.

Shape memory alloys (SMAs) are materials that exhibit a distinct thermomechanical coupling, one that gives rise to a wide variety of applications across a broad range of fields. One of the most successful roles is in the construction of novel medical implants. Unfortunately, concerns have been raised about the biocompatibility of the most popular SMA, nitinol (NiTi), due to the known toxic, allergenic and carcinogenic properties of nickel.