1. Dental Restorative Materials (The most important application area)
This is the largest and most classic application area for Bis-GMA. It is used as the matrix monomer in dental composite resins.

Application products: Tooth filling materials, adhesives, pit and fissure sealants, crown and bridge restorative materials, etc.

Functions:

Provides strength: Combined with inorganic fillers (such as silica, glass ceramic powder), it forms high-strength restorations that can withstand chewing forces.

Malleability and curing: Before curing, it has a viscous paste-like texture, making it easy for dentists to shape. Using light curing (blue light irradiation), it can be cured quickly within tens of seconds, greatly facilitating clinical operation.

Aesthetics: It can be formulated into various shades close to the color of teeth, achieving aesthetically pleasing restorations.

Market position: The vast majority of modern dental light-curing composite resins use Bis-GMA as one of the main or core monomers (often used in combination with diluent monomers such as TEGDMA).

2. Photocurable Materials in Industrial and Electronic Fields
Utilizing its rapid photocuring characteristics, Bis-GMA is widely used in:

Photocurable coatings, inks, and adhesives:

Applications: High-grade wood coatings, metal coatings, plastic coatings, printed circuit board (PCB) solder mask inks, optical fiber coatings, etc.

Advantages: Fast curing speed, high hardness, wear and scratch resistance, good gloss, and low volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.

3D printing (Stereolithography – SLA/DLP technology):

Applications: As a key component in high-performance photosensitive resin formulations, used to manufacture high-precision, high-strength functional prototypes, molds, and even final parts (such as dental models, jewelry casting molds, industrial parts).

3. Other Professional Fields
Bone cement and orthopedic implant coatings: After biocompatibility improvement, it can be used in the orthopedic field as a component of bone cement or for functional coatings on the surface of implants.

High-performance composite materials: As a resin matrix, it is compounded with reinforcing materials such as glass fiber and carbon fiber to manufacture high-performance composite materials. Important Considerations and Trends

Although Bis-GMA is widely used, there are some controversies and alternative trends:

Potential risks of Bisphenol A (BPA): Bis-GMA may hydrolyze in the body to produce trace amounts of BPA. Although there is currently no scientific consensus on whether the extremely small amounts of BPA released from dental materials pose a health risk, “BPA-Free” has become an important trend due to the precautionary principle and market demand.

Development of alternative monomers: To address concerns about BPA, researchers are actively developing new monomers, such as:

Bisphenol A analog alternatives: such as Bis-EMA and UDMA (which are already widely used in dentistry).

Non-Bisphenol A structures: such as methacrylate monomers based on siloxanes, furans, and bio-based sources (e.g., derivative monomers from eugenol).