Mechanical Durability of Contemporary Dental Materials: An Engineering Review and Research Roadmap

Dental restorations and implants operate under coupled cyclic loading, contact, sliding, moisture, thermal fluctuation, saliva chemistry and manufacturing-induced defects; therefore, static strength alone is an inadequate predictor of service life. This critical review synthesizes 50 peer-reviewed studies published in 2025-2026 and interprets zirconia/glass-ceramics, resin composites and additively manufactured polymers, PEEK/highperformance polymers, and titanium/Co-Cr systems through a process-structure-property-environment-life framework. Evidence shows that build orientation, layer thickness, firing or post-curing, milling, surface treatment and ageing alter defect populations and fatigue reliability; printed-resin durability remains protocol-dependent; and implant performance requires simultaneous treatment of micromotion, stress redistribution, corrosion and tribocorrosion. The review integrates service-representative testing, fracture/fatigue and wear metrics, reliability analysis and validated finite-element modelling into a compact experimental-computational methodology. Priority directions are standardized fatigue/wear protocols, defect-informed additive-manufacturing models, calibrated ageing, coupled bio-tribocorrosion-fatigue testing, experimentally validated probabilistic FEA, and multi objective material-process-geometry optimization.