Zirconia In Prosthodontics

The technological evolution of dental ceramics has been remarkable over the past four decades. From feldspathic porcelains to zirconia-based all-ceramics, tremendous progress has been made in terms of mechanical performance, with a ten-fold increase in flexural strength and fracture toughness. The advent of zirconia ceramics in conjunction with computer technology has led both dental science and industry to experience their own dream. The interpretation of this zirconia dream could be defined as the general clinical application of a highly biocompatible zirconia ceramic material that is resistant on a long term basis to all thermal, chemical and mechanical impacts of the oral environment in a wide range of dental restorations. Although clinical long-term evaluations are a critical requirement to conclude that zirconia has good reliability for dental use, biological, mechanical, and clinical studies published to date seem to indicate that ZrO2 restorations are both well tolerated and sufficiently resistant.