Home > Science Seminar > Spring 2006 Seminar Schedule > Dental Ceramics
The Science Seminar Series: March 2, 2006
Past, Present, and Future of Dental Ceramics
Dr. Karl-Johan M Soderholm
Dept. Of Dental Biomaterials
College of Dentistry
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL 32610-0446, USA
Room 1011 Biology/Chemistry BuildingTime: 4:00 -5:00pm
Abstract
Traditionally, dental ceramics are made by a dental technician. The technician makes such a restoration by mixing a ceramic powder with water and he/she then uses that slurry to build up the dental reconstruction. After the powder mixture has been given its shape, the build-up is transferred to an oven, where the ceramic powder particles are sintered together to the final dental reconstruction. No doubt such a process is associated with numerous problems, including differences in skill level among technicians as well as significant shrinkage during the sintering process and stress development in the structure during cooling. During the past 15 years a revolution has occurred in the processing of dental ceramics. That revolution has been sparked by increased use of CAD-CAM based systems in society in general. With that technology, the dental reconstructions are now electronically designed by use of different scanning and software techniques. These electronic reconstructions are then transferred to milling machines were the dental reconstructions are milled to their final shape. By use of these technologies, it has become possible to use industrially processed ceramics, rather than technician processed ceramics. Thus, individual variations among technicians have been eliminated, problems with thermal stresses have been reduced, and new ceramics with superior properties have been introduced. In this presentation we will discuss these new technologies and some new ceramic systems that have been introduced. We will also discuss advantages as well as some potential problems associated with the new technology in an attempt to identify research issues that need to be addressed in the future.