Improved Polymeric Composite Materials for Dental Fillings

Composite materials that include combinations of metal oxide and silica nanoparticles in polymeric matrices have been invented for primary use as dental fillings, dental and bone adhesives, and the like. There have been previous efforts to develop polymeric replacements for the amalgam used traditionally as dental filling material, but those efforts involved polymers that exhibited unfavorable characteristics, including shrinkage and poor adhesion to bone. Strong adhesion is desirable and zero shrinkage is essential for a dental filling material because accumulated stresses from shrinkage can cause debonding with consequent leakage and attack by microbes. The present materials are formulated to obtain stronger adhesion and less shrinkage.