Dental cements are luting agents that predominantly serve to fill in gaps between restorations and the natural tooth. They are crucial for the precise positioning of dental restorations and to protect the pulp from discomfort and injuries. Typically, cements form a strong bond with enamel and dentin, ensuring the stability of metal and ceramic restorations in the patient’s mouth. Dentists utilize cements in a variety of dental applications, ranging from crowns and bridges, to inlays and onlays, to veneers and implants.

A core build-up is a restoration placed on a severely damaged tooth in order to restore the bulk of the coronal portion of the tooth. The core is defined to be part of the preparation of an ‘indirect restoration’ consisting of restorative material. When fabricating crowns or bridges, it is often necessary to use a core material before preparation to reconstruct extensive sections of lost tooth caused by large carious lesions or previous dental treatment. It is suggested that the placement of a core is necessary when more than 50% of the coronal part of the tooth is missing.

Dental impression materials are used to take an imprint of hard and soft tissues in the intraoral cavity. The production of the mold requires placing viscous impression material in a patient’s mouth. This material later solidifies and produces a cast, which is sent to a dental laboratory. Typically, these solid tooth impressions serve to develop crowns, bridges and dentures.

Direct restorative materials are positioned directly onto a tooth and function to fill dental cavities, restore infected teeth and provide substance for root canal treatments. Dental caries have historically been considered to be the most important global oral disease. Currently, cavities remain a major public concern in high income countries, affecting 60 to 90% of school-aged children and the majority of adults. For this reason, the direct restorative material market has been, and continues to be, quite substantial, constituting the largest segment within the dental materials market. An increased demand for direct filling materials has been supported by changes in restorative techniques. The development of adhesive techniques saves sound tooth structure and is compatible with preventative measures. Preserving and stabilizing a tooth’s hard tissues by direct filling techniques is in favor over destructive preparations with indirect restorative materials.

The European market for dental materials includes dental cements, impression materials, direct restorative materials, bonding agents, core build-up materials and dental anesthetics. The aging European population is the most significant driver of the dental materials market. Baby boomers are projected to live longer than those of previous generations and are therefore more likely to invest in their oral health during the remainder of their lives. Consequently, the demand for dental materials will increase due to this generation’s need for more crowns, bridges and other restorations. Also, the popularity of tooth-colored restorations and minimally invasive treatments has increased tremendously in the past few years; these trends are expected to drive the demand for innovative and technologically advanced dental materials, resulting in higher average selling prices (ASPs) and market values.

Dental welding lasers are used by dental technicians to assist in the manufacturing and repair of restorations containing metal alloy material including crowns, bridges, partial dentures and dental implants. Dental welding lasers operate by beaming a concentrated infrared light onto two pieces of metal alloy and heating them until they fuse together. Another application is to repair damaged dental restorations by beaming an infrared laser light directly onto a thin piece of dental wire until it melts into a ball, which can then be fused to the restoration to repair it. This technology increases the productivity of dental laboratories by reducing the time required to manufacture dental restorations. Likewise, it also increases the convenience to lab technicians when repairing damaged prosthetic devices. The laser fuses the metal alloys without disrupting surrounding materials such as plastic and acrylics in dentures, saving the time that it would have taken a technician to fix.

All-tissue lasers are systems that can be used on both soft and hard tissue in the intraoral cavity. These lasers have unique clinical characteristics that surpass conventional tools such as scalpel and drill, thus having the potential to decrease the use of such tools and to create a high-tech atmosphere around the dental chair. Minimally invasive equipment makes patients much more comfortable, increases the efficiency and therefore the return on investment for the dentist. Even though all-tissue lasers are fairly expensive investments for dentists, the short and long term benefits can quickly outweigh the initial expenditures, making them a valuable addition to dental practices.

Dental local anesthesia has a long history going back to the late 19th century. The first anesthetic used in American dentistry being nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas. Even before that, cocaine was a drug used commonly to alleviate toothache in European countries such as Germany. The purpose of these measures was to prevent patients from feeling pain locally, for procedures such as tooth extraction. Today, similar, but safer, drugs are used to stop nerve endings from sensing pain, allowing the dentist to conduct painful procedures such as crown placements, root canals or gum disease treatment. Without local anesthesia, the contemporary focus on restorative work in dentistry could not have been possible.

Dental bonding agents are used to bond a restorative onto a tooth so it remains stable permanently. An ideal bonding agent must have several characteristics such as biocompatibility, high strength, and low microleakage. It is generally applied in conjunction with all direct composite restorations, indirect composite and ceramic inlays, onlays and veneers, and amalgam restorations. There are three primary components consisting bonding agents: the etchant, the primer and the adhesive. The etchant is used as a cleanser to prepare the surface of the tooth for the bonding process. The primer wets the tooth for the adhesive to stick better. The adhesive connects the primer to the actual restoration.

Dental cements are luting agents which are predominantly used to fill the gap between restorations and the natural tooth. They are crucial in the precise positioning of dental restorations and they protect the pulp from discomfort and injuries. Cements typically form a strong bond with enamel and dentin, ensuring the stability of metal and ceramic restorations in the patients’ mouth. They are also used in a variety of dental applications, ranging from crowns and bridges, to inlays, onlays and veneers, to implants.

The dental core build-up material market is a relatively small segment compared to restoratives or bonding agents because the core build-up step is not required at every indirect restoration procedure. A core build-up is a restoration placed on a severely damaged tooth in order to restore the bulk of the coronal portion of the tooth. The core is defined to be part of the preparation of an ‘indirect restoration’ consisting of restorative material. The material is only necessary in cases where there is extensive damage done by tooth decay or after a root canal. Root canals tend to make teeth more susceptible to fractures. Therefore, positioning a crown after a root canal usually requires core build-up.

Dental impression materials are used to take an impression of the hard and the soft tissue in the intraoral cavity. They are then sent to the dental laboratory to be used in the production of prosthetics. In essence, they are an imprint of the teeth structure and the soft tissue surrounding it. The conventional method of taking an impression involves placing the material on the teeth to produce a cast. The type of material used in this process matters significantly, as it has to represent the actual teeth structure accurately and should remain stable until the production of the restoration.

Direct restorative materials, more commonly known as fillings, are dental materials that are positioned directly onto a tooth at the dental clinic. Direct restorations are distinct from indirect restorations in that they are produced inside the mouth by the dentist, and not in a dental laboratory, through the assistance of dental impressions. Consequently, they only require a single visit to the dentist, during which the filling material is shaped by the dentist before it hardens and takes its final shape in the intraoral cavity.

Temporization in dentistry refers to the placement of temporary prosthetics in the patient’s mouth until the permanent crown, bridge or implant is ready to be planted. The large majority of temporary restoratives use composite resin and acrylic as their base material. Composites are biocompatible, aesthetically pleasing and quick to place in the intraoral cavity. However, they can exhibit surface hardness and are more expensive than acrylic products.

The U.S. market for dental materials includes dental cements, impression materials, direct restoratives, temporary restoratives, bonding agents, core build-up materials and anesthetic materials. The overall U.S. dental material market is projected to experience modest growth over the forecast period, largely limited by the emergence of intraoral scanners. Although digitization is yet to become widespread, it has already impacted the dental material market, particularly towards impression and temporary restorative materials. As digital impression taking scanners are becoming more affordable and popular, the need for dental impression and temporary restorative materials is dwindling. Despite the gradual digitization of dental offices, this trend will still put short term pressure on both the prices and unit sales.

Soft tissue lasers are dental lasers which are effective on tissues surrounding teeth and can be used to contour gingiva, sterilize the intraoral cavity and minimize bleeding during procedures. These lasers turn several dental procedures into painless, comfortable and rapid operations, significantly increasing patient satisfaction. Soft tissue lasers can be categorized into diode, CO2 and Nd:YAG lasers.