ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 12 -- United States Patent no. 12,296,031, issued on May 13, was assigned to Ivoclar Vivadent AG (Schaan, Liechtenstein).

"Esthetic dental filling material with high depth of cure" was invented by Philipp Bielec (Wasserburg, Germany) and Benjamin Gebhardt (Grabs, Switzerland).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A dental material having (a) at least one radically polymerizable monomer, (b) at least one radiopaque filler, (c) at least one inorganic filler, (d) at least one composite filler, and (e) at least one initiator for the radical polymerization, wherein the monomer (a) comprises at least one urethane (meth)acrylate, at least one radically polymerizable bisphenol A derivat...