Possibilities for biomaterials to impact the dental caries epidemic are reviewed with …

• Abstract
• Introduction
• Processes Governing Biofilm Formation
• Emerging Approaches to Dental Caries Prevention
• Materials or Surface Coatings That Prevent Bacterial Adhesion
• Surfaces That Change Phase on Command
• Passive or Active Controlled Release of Anti-infective Agents
• Passive Delivery Systems
• Responsive Drug Delivery Systems
• Anti-caries Therapeutics for Controlled Release
• Conclusion
• Competing interests
• References
• Tables

There are numerous biomaterials platforms that have been used for decades for the controlled delivery of drugs including cancer chemotherapies, birth control, insulin, anti-viral agents, analgesics, antibiotics, and cosmetics.

Journals such as the Journal of Biomedical Materials Research, Biomaterials, and Journal of Controlled Release have been filled for decades with the scientific advances in controlled-therapy release. Many of these publications deal with oral biomaterials and oral hygiene but have unfortunately escaped the attention of most dental professionals.

Regrettably, due to page limits, this paper cannot possibly review even a fraction of the drug delivery systems available. The reader is directed to several reviews on this topic [4-9]. Here we will discuss the various types of controlled-release systems available (passive versus controlled or activated) and enumerate the possible agents that could be released to control dental caries.