SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Oral Health
Sec. Preventive Dentistry
Volume 6 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/froh.2025.1625977
This article is part of the Research TopicBiomaterials for Dental Caries Prevention and ManagementView all articles
Antimicrobial PotentialPotencial of Bioactive Resin Composites in Caries Management: A Systematic Review of In Vitro Studies
Provisionally accepted
Sara Lopes1
Pedro Campos Lopes1,2
Rita Fidalgo Pereira1,2
Javier Flores-Fraile3
Nélio Veiga1,2*
Ana Peixoto Gomes1,2*- 1Faculty of Dental Medicine, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Viseu, Portugal
- 2Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Health (CIIS), Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Viseu, Portugal
- 3Universidad de Salamanca, Facultad de Medicina, Departamento de Cirugía, Salamanca, Spain
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Introduction: Secondary caries is the leading cause of failure in resin composite restorations due to biofilm accumulation. Bioactive resin composites (BRCs) release ions that promote remineralization and inhibit bacterial growth. This review compares microbial adhesion and antimicrobial effectiveness between BRCs and conventional resin composites. Methods: A systematic search was conducted in databases PubMed, Scopus, and Cochrane Library to identify in vitro studies evaluating bacterial adhesion and antimicrobial effect of commercially available bioactive resin composites and their comparison with conventional resin composites. Studies reporting on microbial adhesion and/or antimicrobial effects were included. Results: A total of 272 potentially relevant articles were identified. Following PRISMA guidelines, eight articles met the inclusion criteria. The studies focused on five commercially available BRCs: Activa Bioactive Restorative (ACT), Beautifil II (BE), Cention N (CN), Equia Forte (EF), and SDR Flow Plus. Most studies assessed the adhesion of Streptococcus mutans in isolation. While microbial adhesion was observed on both bioactive and conventional resin composites, cell viability differed, with BRCs demonstrating superior antimicrobial effects. Conclusion: Bacterial adhesion to dental restorative materials is influenced by surface roughness, hydrophilicity, chemical composition, and ion release. This review suggests that BRCs and conventional resin composites exhibit similar surface characteristics, resulting in comparable bacterial adhesion. However, BRCs show greater efficacy in reducing bacterial viability, probably due to ion release, which modulates the local microenvironment and microbial dynamics. Further research is needed to explore the broader impact of ion release on the oral microbiome and its potential role in dysbiosis and disease progression.
Keywords: Secondary caries, Resin composites, Bioactive resin composites, surface roughness, Microorganism adhesion
Received: 09 May 2025; Accepted: 13 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Lopes, Lopes, Pereira, Flores-Fraile, Veiga and Gomes. 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:
Nélio Veiga, nveiga@ucp.pt
Ana Peixoto Gomes, apgomes@ucp.pt
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.