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Review
. 2019 Jul 10;12(14):2216.
doi: 10.3390/ma12142216.

Shape-Memory Polymers in Dentistry: Systematic Review and Patent Landscape Report

Alessandro Bruni  1   2 , Francesca Giulia Serra  3   4 , Andrea Deregibus  3 , Tommaso Castroflorio  3
Affiliations
Review

Shape-Memory Polymers in Dentistry: Systematic Review and Patent Landscape Report

Alessandro Bruni et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Objective: To perform a systematic review (SR) of existing literature and a patent landscape report (PLR) regarding the potential applications of shape-memory polymers (SMPs) in dentistry.

Search strategy: Clinical and Biomedical online databases (Pubmed, Medline via Embase, Scopus, LILACS, Web of Science, Cochrane Library), Materials Science and Engineering databases (IEEE Explore, Compendex, Proquest), Material Science and Chemical database (Reaxys) so as Patents databases (Questel-Orbit, Espacenet, Patentscope) were consulted as recently as January 2019 to identify all papers and patents potentially relevant to the review. The reference lists of all eligible studies were hand searched for additional published work.

Results: After duplicate selection and extraction procedures, 6 relevant full-text articles from the initial 302 and 45 relevant patents from 497 were selected. A modified Consolidated Standards of Reporting Trials (CONSORT) checklist of 14 items for reporting pre-clinical in-vitro studies was used to rate the methodological quality of the selected papers. The overall quality was judged low.

Conclusions: Despite the great potential and versatility of SMPs, it was not possible to draw evidence-based conclusions supporting their immediate employment in clinical dentistry. This was due to the weak design and a limited number of studies included within this review and reflects the fact that additional research is mandatory to determine whether or not the use of SMPs in dentistry could be effective. Nevertheless, the qualitative analysis of selected papers and patents indicate that SMPs are promising materials in dentistry because of their programmable physical properties. These findings suggest the importance of furtherly pursuing this line of research.

Keywords: dentistry; patent landscape report; review; shape memory polymers; smart materials; stimuli responsive materials.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of smart materials’ behaviour.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Schematic representation of the molecular mechanism of shape-changing material (SCM) (modified from Iqbal et al. [21]).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Schematic representation of the molecular mechanism of shape-memory material (SMM) (modified from Iqbal et al. [21]).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Shape-memory polymers within the shape-memory materials context.
Figure 5
Figure 5
The mechanism for the shape-memory effect in shape-memory polymers is the dual-segment/domain system. (a) Native configuration; (b) external stimulus, inducing modulus drop, enables deformation after application of an external force; (c) fixation of the temporary configuration; (d) removal of the external force; (e) recovery of the native configuration.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Flow chart of the selection of the studies (performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) [36] guidelines); (b) Flow chart of the selection of the patents.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Patent families by priority country. Figure legend: US—United States; CN—China; JP—Japan; DE—Germany; FR—France; GB—United Kingdom; KR—Korea (South); RU—Russian Federation; AU—Australia; BR—Brazil; CH—Switzerland; IL—Israel; IN—India; NZ—New Zealand.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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