Dental Composites and Adhesive Systems Patents: Top Companies 2026
- Concentrated at the top. The top 5 assignees account for 200 of 424 records in scope (47.2%), with the leader alone holding 64.
- Filing has plateaued, not declined. Annual filings held flat from 2021 to 2024 (10 to 10, 0% change) after peaking at 20 in 2018 — the 2025-26 dip reflects publication lag, not falling activity.
- Claims cluster in medicinal preparations. 87.5% of records carry an A61K classification, while dentistry-specific A61C appears in only 19.1% — most of the crowding sits in formulation chemistry, not device claims.
Filing growth compares 2021 (10 records) with 2024 (10) — a three-year span. 2024 is the most recent year we treat as complete: publication lags filing by roughly 18 months, so 2025 onwards are still filling in and any growth rate that ends there would understate the field. Top-5 share is the combined record count of the five largest assignees divided by all 424 records in scope (CR5), not by the ranked leaders only.
What this landscape covers
This landscape maps 424 published patent families filed between 2015 and mid-2026 that combine dental resin composite or dental adhesive system claims with a specific technical problem: polymerization shrinkage, bond strength, filler loading, bulk fill depth, secondary caries or monomer elution. That search construction deliberately excludes composites and adhesives claimed only on generic material grounds, so the set skews toward records where the applicant argues a measurable performance improvement rather than a new formulation for its own sake.
Filing activity peaked in 2018 and has since settled into a flat pattern rather than a growth curve, with the most recent two years understated because publication trails filing by roughly eighteen months. Receiving-office data shows the United States as the dominant venue, with Europe and the WIPO PCT route as secondary filing paths, and Canada and Australia carrying meaningful volume behind them.
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Filing trend and technology composition
Two views of the same 424-record set: filings by year, and the IPC subclasses those filings carry. Because a single record can sit in several IPC classes, the composition shares add up to more than 100%.
A flat decade, not a growing one
Filings ran from 15 in 2017 to a peak of 20 in 2018, then settled into a plateau — 2021 and 2024 both recorded 10 filings, a 0% change over that span. Treat 2025 and 2026 figures as incomplete rather than as a decline; publication lag means recent filings have not all surfaced yet.
Formulation chemistry dominates the class mix
A61K (medicinal preparations) appears on 87.5% of the 424 records, far ahead of A61C (dentistry and oral hygiene) at 19.1%. Polymer chemistry classes — C07C, C08F and C08G — each sit in the 5-10% range, indicating that most applicants frame their claims around the chemical composition rather than the dental device or delivery mechanism.
Shares are the percentage of the 424 records in scope. A patent can carry several IPC classes, so the shares add up to more than 100%.
Go deeper on Dental Composites and Adhesive Systems with Eureka
This page is one run against one query. Ask Eureka your own question about dental composites and adhesive systems and every answer comes back with the patent numbers behind it.
Try EurekaMost-cited records and a representative filing
US20100247738A1 — Curable zirconia adhesive compositions for dental restorations
The application describes a polymerizable dental adhesive system built for bonding zirconia-based restorations to dental resins and surfaces. It specifies a first acidic monomer carrying an ethylenically unsaturated group together with a phosphoric or phosphonic acid group, paired with a second polymerizable component — a combination aimed at durable adhesion to zirconia, a substrate that plain resin adhesives bond to poorly.Assignee: BISCO, INC. Filed 2010-09-30.
| # | Publication no. | Patent title | Citations |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US6326417B1 | Anti-microbial dental compositions and method | 131 |
| 2 | US4215033A | Composite dental material | 123 |
| 3 | US6013694A | Dental composites comprising ground, densified, embrittled glass fiber filler | 117 |
| 4 | US5658963A | One-component primer/bonding-resin systems | 115 |
| 5 | US5861445A | Reinforcement of dental and other composite materials | 113 |
| 6 | US5338773A | Dental composition and method | 112 |
| 7 | US5256447A | Adhesive composition and method | 84 |
| 8 | US20100272764A1 | Microencapsulated compositions and methods for tissue mineralization | 78 |
| 9 | US6270562B1 | Filler material for dental composites | 74 |
| 10 | US6297181B1 | Barium-free, X-ray-opaque dental glass and dental glass/polymer composite, and the use thereof | 69 |
Citation counts reward older filings that have had more time to accumulate citations within this searched corpus — read them as a signal of influence on the field, not as a ranking of current relevance.
Each row carries its publication number; clicking a row searches Eureka by that number.
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Browse MCP servers →What the concentration and citation data imply
The numbers point to a field where formulation-chemistry claim space is heavily occupied at the top while procedural and measurement-adjacent claims remain comparatively open.
A small group holds nearly half the field
The leading assignee alone accounts for 64 records, and the top five combined reach 200 of the 424 records in scope. That level of concentration means a new entrant filing broad composition claims is very likely to run into prior art from one of a handful of established dental materials companies.
Older anti-microbial and reinforcement patents still anchor prior art
The most-cited record in the set, on anti-microbial dental compositions, has accumulated 131 citations, with several other 1980s-1990s composite and bonding-resin patents close behind. These older filings function as foundational prior art that newer applications are frequently measured against, even where the underlying chemistry has since been superseded.
Growth has plateaued rather than accelerated
After peaking at 20 filings in 2018, annual volume settled to 10 filings in both 2021 and 2024 — flat, not rising. Filers should not read the 2025-26 numbers as a downturn; they are simply incomplete due to the normal lag between filing and publication.
Eureka can read the same corpus for gaps instead of for coverage: under-claimed branches adjacent to dental composites and adhesive systems, with the prior art for and against each one.
Assignee landscape and where the gaps sit
The ranked list covers 100 companies across all 424 records — not a top-50 or top-100 cut, but the full ranking the data returns. A leader with 64 records sits well ahead of the field, and volume drops off quickly after the top ten.
One filer sits well clear of the field
The top-ranked assignee holds 64 of the 424 records, nearly triple the fifth-place total of 14. Recent-year momentum data shows this leader, along with several other major dental materials names, recording zero filings in the latest year — consistent with publication lag rather than an exit from the space.
The top ten control roughly three in five records
Combined, the ten highest-ranked assignees hold 257 of the 424 records in scope, or 60.6%. The gap between the top five (47.2%) and the top ten (60.6%) is comparatively narrow, meaning places six through ten each still carry meaningful individual weight rather than trailing off quickly.
Co-filing is limited and concentrated on a few relationships
Only ten co-assignee pairs appear across the dataset, and the strongest of them recurs six times, well ahead of the next pairs. That scarcity suggests most dental composite and adhesive innovation in this set is filed by a single organisation rather than through joint ventures or academic-industry partnerships.
| Assignee | Recent year | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| 3M Company | 0 | — |
| Premier Dental Products Co. | 0 | — |
| Dentsply Sirona Inc. | 0 | — |
| Bisco, Inc. | 0 | — |
| Board of Regents of the University of Texas System | 0 | — |
| RAMANA VIVEKANANDA | 0 | — |
| Dalhousie University | 0 | — |
| Kuraray Noritake Dental Inc. | 0 | — |
Where to take this analysis
The dataset points to specific follow-up work depending on whether the goal is freedom-to-operate, portfolio strategy, or identifying a filing opening.
Check freedom-to-operate against the top five
With 47.2% of records held by five assignees, any new composition or bonding-chemistry claim should be checked against their filings before drafting.
Run an FTO scan in EurekaTrack the leader's recent activity
Zero filings in the latest year from several major assignees may reflect publication lag rather than a pullback — worth monitoring as 2025-26 data fills in.
Set up assignee monitoring in EurekaProbe the under-claimed branches
Bulk-fill depth sensing and monomer elution testing show lighter filing density than the core formulation classes, which may leave room for a defensible first claim.
Explore white space in EurekaCommon questions about this landscape
One assignee leads the field with 64 of the 424 records in scope, well ahead of the fifth-ranked company at 14. The top five assignees together hold 200 records, or 47.2% of the total, which means nearly half of all filing activity in this dataset traces back to a small group of established dental materials companies. Anyone assessing competitive position in this space should treat that concentration as the starting point, since it shapes both licensing leverage and freedom-to-operate risk.
Filing activity peaked at 20 records in 2018 and has since flattened, with 2021 and 2024 both recording 10 filings each — a 0% change over that span. It is not accurate to call this a decline: the apparent drop in 2025 and 2026 reflects the roughly eighteen-month lag between when an application is filed and when it publishes, not a real fall in activity. The more accurate read is a mature, steady-state filing pace rather than a growing or shrinking one.
This is a Bisco filing for a polymerizable dental adhesive system aimed specifically at bonding zirconia-based restorations to dental resins and tooth surfaces. Its claims center on a first acidic monomer combining an ethylenically unsaturated group with a phosphoric or phosphonic acid group, paired with a second polymerizable monomer. Because zirconia is notoriously difficult to bond with conventional resin adhesives, this filing sits in a specific technical niche rather than covering dental adhesives broadly, so its blocking effect is narrower than a first read might suggest.
The IPC composition data shows heavy concentration in A61K (medicinal preparations, 87.5% of records) and comparatively lighter coverage in device- and method-adjacent areas tied to bulk-fill depth sensing, monomer elution testing, and secondary-caries detection integration. These branches sit adjacent to the dense formulation-chemistry core but are not saturated with claims themselves. A first claim there would likely pair a measurement or sensing method with an existing composite chemistry rather than proposing a new resin system outright.
Each patent record can carry multiple IPC classification codes at once, so a single dental adhesive filing might be tagged under A61K for its chemical composition and A61C for its dental application simultaneously. The 87.5% and 19.1% figures for A61K and A61C, for example, are each calculated against the full 424-record base independently, not against each other, so they are expected to sum past 100%. This is standard for classification data and should not be read as an error.
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Disclaimer. This page is generated from Patsnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. Patsnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.
Machine translation. Assignee and organisation names originally recorded in Chinese, Japanese or Korean have been rendered into English by an AI translation step so that the tables stay readable. These renderings are best-effort and may not match a company’s registered English name; the original name is what the underlying patent record carries, and it is what any Eureka query launched from this page uses.