Fundamentals of Nanofiber Reinforced Composites

Dr. Chiraz Guessaier spoke with Dr. Rick Carvalho, Professor in the Biomaterials Division at UBC about his keynote presentation at IADR, “Fundamentals of Nanofiber-reinforced Composites”.

Highlights

Resin composites are essential in dentistry as a restorative material. Nanofibers can be used as reinforcing agents to make resin composite stringer and tougher.

Nanofiber research is important in the area of composite resins to help improve the durability and longevity of the materials. There are currently funding initiatives to develop new resin composite materials for dental applications. Nanofibers can be produced from several types of organic and inorganic polymers. Bis-GMA, TEGDMA, PMMA, etc have been used to produce electrospun nanofibers for dental applications.

Currently, there are no commercially available nanofiber materials in dentistry. Available materials such as endo posts and others are made of fibers at a larger scale. Nanoscale is desirable for the known benefits of improved properties and increased reactivity. Nanofiber technology can also be used in other areas of dentistry: drug-delivery systems for periodontal disease and remineralization/regeneration in endodontics, for example.

Fundamentals of Nanofiber Reinforced Composites from Canadian Dental Association on Vimeo.