1Professor and Head, Dasmesh Institute of Research and Dental SciencesFaridkotPunjab
2Professor, Dasmesh Institute of Research and Dental SciencesFaridkotPunjab
3Associate professor Department of oral medicine and Radiology Dasmesh Institute of Research and Dental SciencesFaridkotPunjab
4Professor and Head Department of Periodontoloy and Implantology Dental collegeAzamagarh (UP)
4D printing is an innovative digital manufacturing technology that originated by adding a fourth dimension, i.e., time, to pre-existing 3D technology or additive manufacturing (AM). AM is a fast-growing technology used in many fields, which develops accurate 3D objects based on models designed by computers. This narrative review evaluates various additive manufacturing technologies—including stereolithography (SLA), digital light projection (DLP), fused deposition modeling (FDM), and selective laser sintering (SLS)—and details the properties of smart responsive polymers, shape-memory composites, and hydrogels that transform under external triggers such as thermal energy, moisture changes, light, and pH variations. By compiling technical material specifications and fabrication paradigms from the wider biomedical engineering literature, this work serves as an exhaustive resource detailing how dynamic materials overcome the static limitations of 3D-printed intraoral systems to realize shape-changing orthodontic devices, adaptive dentures, custom anatomical bone scaffolds, and localized drug delivery architectures.
