Nathaniel Lawson, DMD, PhD, serves as director of the Division of Biomaterials at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) School of Dentistry, where he also directs the biomaterials residency program. A national and international lecturer, he was honored with the Stanford New Investigator Award and 3M Innovative Research Fellowship, both from the American Dental Association. Lawson, who also works as a general dentist in the UAB faculty practice, can be reached at nlawson@uab.edu.
Recent years have witnessed exciting developments in dental restorative technologies, especially in the realms of composites and bioactive materials designed to streamline procedures and improve outcomes.
Bioactive materials are taking restorative dentistry one step further by helping to prevent demineralization, promote remineralization, and, when used as a liner or pulp-capping agent, stimulate the formation of dentin.