Bioinspired physico‐chemical surface modifications for the development of advanced retentive systems
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
A major aspiration in advanced materials is to create artificial adhesive surfaces for wearable medical devices to meet the demands of the body's challenging settings and dynamics. For instance, dentures replace missing teeth and operate within the oral cavity, where an interplay between forces, muscles, saliva, and roughness of mucosa undermine their ability to grip oral tissues. Consequently, the lack of effective retentive strategies represents a source of dissatisfaction for denture wearers globally. Nature is rich in examples that employ physical and chemical adhesive strategies to optimize interfacial forces in dry and wet environments. Here, keratin-coated octopus-like suction cups are presented at the micro- and macroscale to improve the retention of rigid poly(methyl methacrylate). Microtopographies are obtained using two-photon polymerization and maskless lithography, while denture prototypes with macrotopographies are derived via digital light processing 3D printing. Results suggest that microtopographies and keratin-coated surfaces sustain higher maximum adhesion stress than the non-topographical and non-coated surfaces in moist environments, where retention is typically lacking. Proof-of-concept dentures demonstrate higher maximum detachment forces than conventional dentures with and without denture adhesive within dry and wet environments. This interdisciplinary research highlights the potential application of a nature-inspired physico-chemical approach in the next generation of complete dentures.
Date Issued
2025-03-04
Date Acceptance
2024-11-01
Citation
Advanced Materials Technologies, 2025, 10 (5)
ISSN
2365-709X
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
Advanced Materials Technologies
Volume
10
Issue
5
Copyright Statement
© 2024 The Author(s). Advanced Materials Technologies published by Wiley-VCH GmbH. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/admt.202400928
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
2400928
Date Publish Online
2024-11-19