In dentistry, isotropic materials, such as metals, ceramics, and
polymers, are used. Their properties are not related to any specific
direction of the material microstructure. There is a trend toward
non-metallic, adhesive, and minimally invasive dentistry. This is in
line with the conceptual change seen in the automobile industry, in
which the basis of car structures has changed from body-on-frame designs
to unibody designs. In unibody designs, all structural parts of the
body of the car mechanically form a single structural entity. In modern
adhesive dentistry, remaining tooth substance and the dental material
form unibody designs, enabling preservation of tooth substance.
Biological structures are created to withstand loading and are light in
weight. The structural designs of elements in these biological materials
are, to a large extent, based on fibrous material. More attention has
been paid to mimicking fibrous structures of dental hard tissues by
synthetic fiber-reinforced composites. This overview reports key
features of natural fibrous elements and how they are utilized in
dentistry. Special emphasis is placed on the aspects of interfacial
adhesion of restorative materials, especially ceramics to resin-based
materials and their role in the unibody design of the tooth-restoration
system.