Editorial: 50th Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Dental Materials Group

Abstract

© L p The 50 Annual Meeting of the Brazilian Dental Materials Group, known by the acronym in Portuguese GBMD (Grupo Brasileiro de Materiais Dentarios), was held in Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul state, Brazil between July 30 and August 1, 2014. The conference was chaired by the Dental Materials Division of the Graduate Program in Dentistry from Federal University of Pelotas. In total, 11 researchers lectured, 247 research posters were presented, and above 400 attendees participated in the meeting. The GBMD meetings intend to provide a forum for researchers to present cutting edge research about the latest breakthroughs and technologies in the dental materials area. Special attention is given to the opportunity in knowledge exchanging between professors, researchers, graduate and undergraduate students to inspire the youth to pursue a research carrier in dental materials. This special issue of Applied Adhesion Science (AAS) contains five selected papers presented in the meeting. All papers were submitted through the AAS online submission system and were peer reviewed. The papers address relevant questions in adhesive dentistry, particularly related to new adhesive materials and clinical techniques. In addition to these five selected papers and the 247 posters presented in the Poster Sessions, the invited oral speakers presented meaningful lectures during the meeting: “Infrared FTIR spectroscopy: theory, techniques and applications in dental materials research” by Prof. Fabricio Ogliari (Federal University of Pelotas, Brazil); “Degradation and fracture mechanisms in natural versus artificial dental materials” by Prof. Ulrich Lohbauer (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany), “Formulation of dental materials based on predictable performance” by Prof. Fabricio Collares (Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil); “Fatigue damage mechanisms and failure prevention in all-ceramic restorations” by Prof. Yu Zhang (New York University, USA); “Development of calcium phosphate-containing bioactive composites”, by Prof. Roberto Braga (State University of Sao Paulo, Brazil); “Reflection on 50 years of clinical research of dental materials and what should be the next steps” by Prof. Stephen Bayne (University of Michigan, USA); “Advances and challenges of tissue engineering in dentistry” by Prof. Rodrigo Carvalho (North University of Parana, Brazil); “Relevance of dental materials research in the perspective of real world dentistry” by Prof. Niek Opdam (Radboud University Nijmegen, The Netherlands); “Polymerization shrinkage effects on the performance of direct and indirect restorations” by Prof. Carlos Soares (Federal University of Uberlândia, Brazil); “Activation – crucial step in the success of adhesive restorations” by Prof. Luis Felipe Schneider (Federal Fluminense University and Veiga de Almeida University, Brazil); “Recent advances in all-ceramic restorations” by Prof. Alvaro Della Bona (University of