Coatings in Dentistry—A Review of Some Basic Principles

Different coatings are used in dentistry in an attempt to prevent caries, improve bonding of restorative materials to tooth tissues, and coat implant surfaces in efforts to speed up osseointegration. These are just a few of the many coating applications used in dentistry. The intention of this review is not to cover the entire field of different coatings used in dentistry, because that topic is just too big to be covered in one single paper. Therefore, this review aims to highlight some fundamental coating principles and present these principles to an audience consisting mainly of dentists. To do so, this review will focus on the fundamental principles of coatings, namely surface properties/adhesives in general, since these topics form the foundation for most coating procedures used in dentistry.