Functional hydrogels for dental disease treatment

Dental disease treatment has achieved significant progress, yet challenges remain due to limitations of conventional dental materials, including suboptimal biocompatibility and biodegradability. Functional hydrogels, as one kind of versatile biomaterial, have gained widespread attention in biomedical applications, offering notable advantages and promising potential for dental therapies. This paper summarizes the basic properties of functional hydrogels and recent advancements in treating various dental diseases. It emphasizes the working mechanisms and therapeutic effects. Lastly, the challenges and issues encountered by hydrogels in dental treatments are discussed, along with future development prospects. With ongoing advances in hydrogel design and fabrication, their performance is expected to improve further, expanding their role and potential in managing dental diseases, oral health, and related medical conditions.