Monomer systems for dental composites and their future: a review.

This review discusses the history of monomers used in resin composites, highlights recent and ongoing research reported in the field of dental monomer systems, and future development. The main deficiencies of current resin composites are polymerization shrinkage and insufficient wear resistance under high masticatory forces. The problem has been approached with the synthesis of potentially low-shrinking/nonshrinking resin composites. Monomer systems have been formulated that improve the degree of conversion and mechanical properties.