A review, zirconia based dental materials

Abstract

In dentistry, increasing aesthetic expectations and technological developments have increased the use of different materials that are biologically compatible, tooth-colored, and have mechanical properties provided by the metal infrastructure, as an alternative to the metal-supported ceramic restorations that have been used for a long time. Nowadays, the use of full ceramic restorations in prosthetic dental treatments has become quite common. Zirconia is a frequently used ceramic material due to its high mechanical properties. Especially in fixed prosthetic treatment applications, it can be used as the infrastructure material of tooth and implant supported crown and bridge prostheses or as one-piece full anatomical prosthetic restorations, as the primers of telescope systems, as post and/or core, as the implant abutment and the implant itself. Nowadays, it is possible to produce zirconia restorations with computer-aided design-computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) method and three-dimensional (3D) printers. In this review, the compositional properties, production methods, structural, mechanical and optical properties of zirconia-based dental materials and their use in dental applications are reviewed in the light of current literature information.