Biomaterials and Technology for Oral and Dental Health

Dear Colleagues,

The average increase in life expectancy is dependent on a higher incidence of systemic diseases in the overall population.

The progressive and continuous evolution in medical science means that compensation for most pathologies may be achieved, allowing affected patients to lead a lifestyle that is almost comparable to that of healthy individuals.

Additionally, ensuring adequate function and aesthetics from a dental point of view, in combination with the growing average age (also dependent on the increase in partially or fully edentulous individuals), could be an increasingly burning issue.

Although always consulting the treating physician may be the conditio sine qua non for proceeding with surgical and prosthetic rehabilitations, it is essential for the dentist to have decision-making guidelines that can enable them, from the very first visit, to provide the patient with concrete answers as to whether or not procedures are feasible.

Moreover, access to the consultation of prospective and retrospective clinical studies with medium-long follow-up that would make us more optimistic and confident about the predictability of procedures and long-term results could be essential in managing possible complications as well.

Also significant is the full knowledge of the effect of drugs on implant survival rates, peri-implant parameters and intra- and post-operative complications.

These drugs, in addition to individual characteristics, autoimmune and psychiatric diseases, genetic predisposition and stress, could also play a significant role in oral mucosal diseases.

Further studies concerning the incidence of these pathologies and the possible impact on surgical and prosthetic rehabilitation to restore missing or compromised teeth could be crucial, both for clinicians and patients.

Another key point related to prominent issues in dentistry is the need to reduce clinical time and biological and economic costs for the patient.

From this point of view, the use of digital methods that allow the patient to pre-visualize prosthetic rehabilitations, reduce timing and increase patient comfort, as well as facilitate the clinician, should be considered the gold standard.

Concerning dental implants, considering that long-term edentulism, especially of the posterior sectors but also of the anterior ones, could be hindered by the insufficient residual bone volume and the scarce presence of keratinized mucosa, investigating therapeutic alternatives which allow the insertion of implants that adapt to reduced bone height and/or thickness and investigating the role of soft tissue in the success of rehabilitation could be crucial.

Prof. Dr. Gherlone Felice Enrico
Dr. Giulia Teté
Guest Editors

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