REVIEW article
Front. Cell. Infect. Microbiol.
Sec. Biofilms
Volume 15 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2025.1663563
This article is part of the Research TopicNovel Strategies for Caries ControlView all 6 articles
From Biofilm Control to Biomimetic Remineralization: Hydrogels in Prevention and Treatment of Dental Caries
Provisionally accepted
- Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
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Dental caries, a prevalent chronic bacterial disease globally, poses a significant threat to public health due to its complex pathogenesis involving demineralization and microbial dysbiosis. Hydrogels, with their unique three-dimensional network structures and diverse properties, have shown great potential in prevention and treatment of dental caries. This article systematically reviews recent advances in anti-caries hydrogel development. It first introduces the basis of anti-caries hydrogels, covering the applications of natural and semi-synthetic polymers as hydrogel matrices. Then, it elaborates on the mechanisms and research status of different types of anti-caries hydrogels, including probiotic formulations, antibacterial hydrogels, remineralization-inducing hydrogels, and saliva-related caries-reducing hydrogels. Finally, it summarizes the current research achievements and limitations and looks ahead to future research directions.
Keywords: Dental Caries, Hydrogel, Antibacterial, remineralization, Prevention and treatment
Received: 10 Jul 2025; Accepted: 01 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Chen, Lin and Zhou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Wen Zhou, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.