[Application and potential future directions of self-healing polymers in dentistry].

Self-healing materials have rapidly developed in recent years to overcome the micro-cracks occurring in the polymer matrix. Self-healing ability offers autonomous crack repairs to prolong the service lives of polymers or polymer composites. As a main approach, extrinsic self-healing materials based on microcapsules have been applied in dentistry recently. This paper comprehensively presented and reviewed the definition and classification of self-healing materials, the synthesis of microcapsules, the calculation of self-healing efficiency, and the application of self-healing materials in dentistry. The future directions of self-healing polymers are also discussed.