Fullerene C60 in dental materials: a comprehensive review of carbon nanotechnology applications and future prospects

Teeth and dental materials are very noteworthy because of their important role in digestion and facial beauty. It is necessary to develop dental materials with suitable physical, chemical and biological properties to improve the quality and beauty of teeth. Fullerene, as a spherical allotrope of carbon, has potent properties for medical applications. In this combinatorial review article, we focus on the application of fullerene C60 in dentistry. By searching the database for suitable keywords ("fullerene", "dental" and "dentistry"), 12 related articles were found. The data extracted from these articles showed that fullerene C60 can improve the mechanical properties of dental materials, prevent bacterial and fungal infections in the mouth, reduce frictional forces during orthodontic tooth movement, reduce the oxidation of orthodontic wires, improve surface topography, and adjust the roughness of dental implants in cell proliferation and connections, reduce the overall roughness of dental implants, increase the biocompatibility of dental materials, improve osteonectography by inducing biomineralization and differentiation of osteoblasts, act as alkaline phosphatase-like catalysts and increase the concentration of phosphate ions, improve the longevity and quality of implants, reduce worn teeth and corrosion, and prevent prosthetic stomatitis and inflammation. One related study showed that the designed fullerene-based system can be used as a probe to evaluate alpha-amylase activity and serve as an alternative analytical method for caries detection. Based on this article, the future of dentistry and dental materials is bright due to the spherical nanostructure of fullerene and the development of research in the field of its use in dentistry.