Advanced dental materials are manufactured states whose performance depends on digital geometry, additive or subtractive processing, post-processing, surface modification, defects and oral loading. This focused critical review synthesizes 50 peer-reviewed publications from 2025–2026 using an explicitly documented search, eligibility, screening and evidence-coding protocol rather than a PRISMA systematic-review claim. The literature is integrated through a manufacturing–structure–performance (MSP) framework linking process variables to defect/microstructural and surface states and then to dimensional accuracy, fatigue, wear, adhesion and functional durability. Comparative synthesis shows that additive-manufacturing studies are strongest in static mechanical and accuracy characterization but weaker in defect-informed fatigue; surface-engineering evidence is increasingly multifunctional but coating durability is inconsistently tested; finite-element analysis is advancing toward patientspecific models but remains limited by idealized properties, contacts and experimental validation; and AI/ML is constrained by small, heterogeneous and weakly transferable datasets. A closed digital thread is proposed in which metrology and experiments calibrate predictive mechanics, validated simulations and tests generate traceable datasets, surrogate models accelerate prediction and multi-objective optimization identifies robust process/design windows. Priority directions include defect-informed zirconia AM, cure–conversion–fatigue modelling of printed resins, multifunctional coating durability, experimentally validated patient-specific FEA, inverse implant design, digital twins and sustainability-aware manufacturing optimization.

Advanced dental materials; additive manufacturing; surface engineering; finite element analysis; intelligent optimization.