Recent Advances in Prosthodontics: Integrating Digital Dentistry, Artificial Intelligence, Advanced Biomaterials, and Personalized Rehabilitation

Background: Prosthodontics is undergoing a substantial transformation through the convergence of digital dentistry, computeraided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), additive manufacturing, artificial intelligence (AI), advanced restorative materials, implant dentistry, and patient-specific computational modeling. These developments are changing diagnostic procedures, treatment planning, prosthesis fabrication, clinical communication, and long-term maintenance.Objective: This narrative review critically examines recent advances in prosthodontics, evaluates their clinical relevance and limitations, and identifies research priorities for translating emerging technologies into predictable, evidence-based patient care.Methods: A focused narrative literature search was undertaken using PubMed/MEDLINE-indexed literature and supplementary bibliographic searches, prioritizing systematic reviews, meta-analyses, clinical investigations, and relevant foundational studies published between 2015 and October 2026. Literature concerning intraoral scanning, CAD/CAM, virtual patients, digital smile design, AI, additive manufacturing, removable and fixed prosthodontics, implant-supported rehabilitation, biomaterials, robotics, and sustainability was considered. Evidence was synthesized thematically, with emphasis on clinical applicability, technical performance, patient-reported outcomes, and methodological limitations. This review was not designed as a systematic review, and no formal risk-of-bias assessment or quantitative meta-analysis was performed.Discussion: Major advances include increasingly integrated digital workflows, improved intraoral scanning, virtual articulation, facially driven treatment planning, AI-assisted diagnosis and prosthetic design, digitally manufactured complete dentures, and expanded applications of additive manufacturing. Digital implant workflows have improved data exchange and prosthetically driven planning, although full-arch implant accuracy remains technique dependent. Contemporary zirconia, lithium disilicate, high-performance polymers, and CAD/CAM resin-based materials have expanded restorative options. AI offers promising capabilities in image interpretation, segmentation, prosthesis design, and predictive modeling, but much of the evidence remains derived from retrospective datasets, laboratory experiments, and controlled testing. Emerging concepts such as digital twins, sensor-enabled prostheses, robotic assistance, and generative design may further personalize treatment, although their routine clinical value requires validation.Conclusion: Contemporary prosthodontics is progressing toward integrated, patient-specific, and data-driven rehabilitation. Digital technologies can improve efficiency, visualization, reproducibility, and communication, but their clinical value depends on appropriate case selection, material selection, biological understanding, operator competence, and long-term outcome assessment. The most defensible future model is an evidence-based hybrid approach that combines conventional clinical expertise with validated digital technologies.