Seminar - 2 Dental Ceramics

DENTAL CERAMICS

CERAMICS:

Is defined as any product made essentially from non-metallic

material by firing at high temperature to achieve desirable

properties.

PORCELAIN:

The term porcelain refers to a family of ceramic materials

composed essentially of Kaloin, quartz and Feldspar also fired at

high temperature.

Acc GPT 1999 Ceramics:

It is defined as compounds of one or more metals with non-

metallic element usually oxygen. They are formed by of chemical

and biochemical stable substances that are strong, hard, brittle

and inter non-conductors of thermal and electrical energy.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND:

Ceramics are the most sophisticated material of stone age.

The forming and burning of clay suspension has been carried out

since 5000 BC.

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 Characterized by their refractory nature hardness,

susceptibility to fracture and chemical inertness.

 First introduced in dentistry in late 1700’s.

 Ceramic denture teeth first made by Alexis Dachateau in

1774.

 CH Land made the first ceramic crown and inlay with an

platinum foil matrix. (Technique was patented in 1887).

 Porcelain jacket crowns developed in early 1900s.

 The popularity of ceramic restoration declined with the

introduction of acrylic resins. But ……

 In 1960’s poor matching in thermal expansion and

contraction between ceramic and alloy lead to development of

Leucite-containing feldspathic porcelain.

 In 1962 Weinstein patented a leucite containing porcelain

first for use in metal ceramic restorations.

CLASSIFICATION OF DENTAL CERAMICS:

Dental ceramics are classified according to their;

1. Firing temperature

2. Type of porcelains

3. According to the use

4. Processing methods

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5. Substructure material

6. Methods of fabricating ceramic restorations

7. Methods of firing

8. According to application.

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According to Firing Temperatures:

According to British Standard – 5612:-

a) The High Fusing – 13000C (1315 – 13700C)

- Used for denture teeth

- Superior strength, insolubility and translucency.

b) The medium fusing – 1090 to 12600C

- Used for denture teeth, ceramic metal restoration, fixed

restorations.

c) The low fusing – 8700C to 10650C

- Used for ceramic metal restorations, fixed restorations.

d) Ultra low fusing - <8700C

According to Firing Methods:

- Air fired – Firing at atmospheric pressure

- Vacuum fired – Firing at reduced pressure.

According to the Type of Porcelain:

- Feldspathic porcelains

- Leucite reinforced porcelain

- Aluminous porcelains

- Alumina core porcelain

- Glass infiltrated alumina porcelain

- Glass infiltrated magnesium spinnel

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- Glass ceramics.

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According to the Use:-

- Denture teeth

- Metal ceramics

- Laminate and veneers

- Inlays, onlays

- Crown and bridge

According to the Substructure Material:

- Cast metal

- Snagged foil/ metal

- Glass ceramics

- Sintered glass ceramics

- Crystallized porcelains

- Copy milled porcelains

- CAD/ CAM Porcelains

According to Processing Methods:

- Sintering

- Casting

- Machining

According to the method of Applications:

- All porcelain

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- Porcelain fused metal

According to Fabrication Technique:

- Depending on fabrication.

Fabrication Crystalline Phase

All Ceramic Machined Alumina – Al2O3

Feldspar – AKAl Si3 O8

Mica – KMg25 Sio4 F2

Slip Cast Alumina – Al2O3

Spinel – Mg Al2 O4
Heat Pressed Leucite – Kal Si2 O6

Lithium disilicate Li2 Si2 O5

Sintered Alumina – Al2O6

Leucite – Kal Si2O6

Ceramic Sintered Leusite – KA1Si2O6

Metal
Denture Manufactured Feldspar

teeth

COMPOSITION OF DENTAL PORCELAINS:

Compositional Constituents (Percentage)

- Feldspar 60-80% Basic glass former
- Quartz 15-25% Filler
- Oxide 9-15% Fluxes
- Alumina 8-20% Glass former 8 fluxes
- Metallic pigments 1% Color matching
- Kaolin 3-5% Binder

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High Fusing Porcelains:

Feldspar - 70-90%

Quartz - 11-18%

Kaolin - 1-10%

Medium fusing and low fusing porcelains:-

Medium Fusing Low Fusing

Silica dioxide 69.4% 64.2%

Boric oxide 7.5% 2.8%
Calcium oxide 1.9%
Potassium oxide 8.3% 8.2%
Aluminium oxide 4.8% 1.9%
Lithium oxide - 2.1%
Magnesium oxide 0.5%

Individual Components:-

Potash feldspar - K2O Al2O3 6SiO2

Soda feldspar - Na2O Al2O3 6 SiO2

Silica – SiO2

Crystalline quartz

Crystalline cristobalite

Crystalline tridymite

Non-crystalline fused silica

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It acts as a refractory skeleton provides strength and

hardness.

Glass modifiers: Boric oxide B2O3

Function:

- Lowers fusion temperature

- Increases flow of porcelain

- Removes impurities

- Help to produce dental porcelain with different firing

temperature

- Acts as a flux, by interrupting the integrity of the silica

network.

Kaolin:

- Acts as a binder

- Also imparts opacity

Alumina: Forms a network in conjunction with silica.

Alters softening viscosity.

Metallic Pigments: Pigment oxides

- Help to obtain various shades needed to stimulate natural

teeth.

- These are :- Brown - Iron or nickel oxide

Green - Copper oxide

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Yellow brown - Titanium oxide

Blue - Cobalt oxide

Pink - Chromium tin or chroma

- Opacity is achieved by addition of :-

Cerium oxide

Zirconium oxide

Titanium oxide

Tin oxide

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ADVANTAGES OF CERAMICS:

1. High abrasion resistance

2. Chemical inertness

3. Excellent thermal and electrical insulators

4. Excellent esthetic qualities

 Translucency

 Color stability

 Capacity of pigmentation

 Stain resistance

 Enhanced polishability

5. High durable

DISADVANTAGES:

1. Highly brittle

2. Excessive wear of opposing teeth

3. High firing shrinkage

Methods used to overcome the deficiencies of ceramics fall under 2

categories:-

1. Methods of strengthening brittle materials

2. Methods of designing components to minimize stress

concentration and tensile stress.

Methods of Strengthening:-

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1. Development of residual compressive stresses within the

surface of the material.

2. Interruption of crack propagation.

- Minimising tensile stresses

- Avoiding stress concentration

1) Development of residual stresses:

Strengthening is gained by virtue of fact that these residual

stresses must be first be negated by developing tensile stresses

before any net tensile stress develops.

4 Methods:

1) Ion-exchange: (Chemical Tempering)

Involves exchange of large potassium ions for the smaller

sodium ions.

 Sodium containing glass articles is placed in a bath of molten

potassium nitrate.

 The potassium ion is 35% larger than sodium ion.

 Squeezing of the potassium ions into the place of sodium ions

creates a large residual compressive stress.

Thermal Tempering:- Most common methods.

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 Thermal temporing creates residual stresses by rapidly

cooling (quenching). The surface of object while it is hot and

in the softened (molten) state.

 This rapid cooling produces a skin of rigid glass surrounding

a soft (molten core).

 As molten core solidifies it tends to shrink, creates residual

tensile stresses within the outer surface.

Mismatch Coefficient of Thermal Expansion:-

 The metal and the porcelain used for the restoration are

designed with slight mismatch in their co-efficient of thermal

expansion.

 The coefficient of thermal expansion for metals is more than

porcelain thus the metal contacts more than the porcelain on

cooling provides additional strength.

Interruption of Crack Propagation:

Methods: Dispersion a crystalline phase

a) Aluminous Porcelains (PJC): Alumina which is a tough

crystalline material is added to a glass in the particulate

form, the glass is toughened as the cracks cannot penetrate

the alumina particles.

b) Dicor Castable Glass Ceramics): Dicor utilizes inhibition of

crack prepagation by the growth of mica crystals in the

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ceramic as a result of heat treatment of the ceramic. Mica

crystals in situ interrupt crack propagation their by

strengthening the restoration.

Transformation Toughening:

a) New technique of strengthening glasses. Strengthening

glasses involves the incorporation of crystalline material that

is capable of undergoing a chance in crystal structure when

placed under stress.

b) The crystalline material partially stabilized Zirconia. The

energy required for the transformation of is taken from the

energy that allows to crack to propagate.

Design of Dental Restorations:

- Designed in such a way to overcome weakness.

- To avoid exposure of the ceramic to high tensile stresses.

- To avoid stress concentration at sharp angles.

Minimizing Tensile Stresses:

 High tensile stresses

1. Posterior segment of mouth

2. Deep overbite in the anterior region

 A ductile metal coping prevents the formation of Tensile

stresses in the porcelain and prevents it failure.

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Reducing Stress Raisers:

Stress raisers are discontinuities in ceramic structures and in

the brittle materials that cause stress concentration.

Processing:

The production of satisfactory porcelain restoration requires

full careful attention to the principles and detail in operations.

Step-I – Porcelain application and condensation:

- Careful cleaning metal frame work and thin layer of opaque

porcelain is applied and baked.

- Dentin porcelain powder in the shade selected for

body/dentine portion.

- To achieve thorough condensation, vibration method

particularly efficient in driving excess of water.

- Excess of water is removed by tissue paper.

Brush or Capillary Method:

- Excess of water is removed by capillary attraction.

Drying: The restoration is placed infront open furnace, and to be

dried.

- Drying stage lasts for 5 to 8 min.

- Drying stage mainly removes excess water.

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Firing/ Sintering:

- Porcelain restoration are fired either by temperature control

alone or temperature or time control.

- Sintering is defined as a process of heating without melting

closely packed particles to form a cohert mass by inter-

particle bonding and sufficient diffusion to decrease the

surface area and increase the density of the structure.

Fritting:

- The term ‘Frit’ is used to describe the final glass product.

- The process of blending, melting and quenching the glass

components is termed as fritting.

Ceramming:

Ceramming is a procedure by virtue of which a metal

phosphate is undissolved in the porcelain, which acts as a

nucleating agent.

Fluxes:-

Fluxes are defined as any substance or mixture used to

promote fusion especially the fusion of metals or minerals.

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Uses:

- Lower fusion temperature

- Increases fluidity

- Reduces oxidation of metal.

Glazing:-

Porcelain is cleaned and necessary stains applied.

Glazing is short, when glazing temperature is reached, on

thin glassy film (glaze) is formed by viscous flow on the porcelain

surface.

Cooling:

It is commonly accepted that the cooling stage is critical in

fabrication of ceramic metal restoration.

Too rapid cooling, may result in surface cracking and crazing.

This also called thermal shock.

Very slow cooling also causes cracking.

Slow cooling is always preferred and is accomplished by

removing the fixed restoration.

Alumina Reinforced Porcelain:

- First introduced by McClean and Hughes in 1968.

- The alumina crystals reinforce the core which serves as a

substructure into which feldspathic porcelain is fixed.

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- The fused alumina particles are stronger than the glass and

are used in conjunction with different strengthening such as

Zirconia and Magnesium.

- The slip cast alumina crowns and FPD.

- This have high strength but non-esthetic core material

(alumina) is veneered with ceramic.

Advantages:

1. Enhanced strength

2. Enhanced esthetics

3. Biocompatible

4. Good periodontal relationship

5. Transillumination of gingiva

Disadvantages:

1. Internal surface microcracks

2. Limited to anterior segments

3. Technique sensitive

4. Ideal preparation to avoid stress raisers.

5. Wear of opposing teeth.

6. Lower flexural strength

7. High sintering shrinkage

8. Not capable of being attached to partial denture frame works.

New addition:

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In ceramic spinnel (mg Al 2O3) infiltrated with glass  more

translucency.

II) Leucite Reinforced Porcelain:

The optic HSP is a leucite reinforced feldspathic porcelain

that is condensed and sintered like aluminous porcelain and

traditional feldspathic porcelains.

Indications: Inlays, onlays, low stress, crowns in veneers.

Advantages:

- Does not require a metal substructure on opacer.

- Good translucency and enhanced esthetics

- Moderate flexural strength

- Can be fabricated without special lab requirements.

Disadvantages:

HSP-optic when condensed and sintered shrinks on firing

because of the volumetric decrease caused by sintering and thus

the fit of crowns (marginal inaccuracies) is not as good as PFM’s.

Glass Infiltrated Alumina Core Ceramics using Celay Technology

(Celay Restorations):

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 It makes use of copy milling technique that is capable of

milling.

- Porcelains

- In-ceramics

- In ceramics spinell of MgAl2O3

- In-creams substructure for FPD.

 This system introduced by Microna technologies.

Heat Pressed Ceramics:

- Involves high temperature 11000C and pressure in relation to

ceramic ingot.

- The technique consists of slowly forcing softened ceramic into

mould made by the traditional lost wax technique.

Injection Moulded Glass Ceramics:

- A precerammed glass ceramic that is heated in a cylinder

form and injected under pressure in high temperature into a

mould.

- Contains high amount of leucite crystals that inhibit crack

propagation.

- The ceramic substructure is produced by injection moulding

a period of 45 minutes.

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Advantages:

- Lack of metal

- Moderate flexural strength

- Excellent fit

- Excellent esthetics.

Disadvantages: -

- Fracture in posterior regions

- Technique sensitive

Glass Ceramics:-

Glass ceramics are dental ceramics which are solid materials

partly crystalline and partly glassy, formed by controlled

crystallisation of glass that combines the properties of a restorative

material for function with the capability to be cast using the lost

wax process.

Features:

- First prepared by MacCullock in 1968.

- Has a glassy matrix and one or more crystal phases produced

by the controlled nucleation and growth of crystals in the

glass.

Types:

- Dicor using mica crystals

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- A Japanese castable glass ceramic using hydroxy apatite

crystals

- Cerestore using -alumina and a magnesium aluminate

spinnel.

Dicor:

Dicor is a castable glass ceramic that is formed into an inlay,

fascial veneer, full crown by a last wax casting procedure similar to

that employed for metals.

Composition:-

- SiO2 Al2 O3

- MgO

- MgF2 (CF2 ions act as nucleating agent)

- Zinc oxide

Cerestore:

The shrink free cerestore system is a castable glass ceramic

that incorporates the strengthening-phases of,

- -alumina

- Mg aluminate spinnel

Advantages:

- Better esthetics

- Good esthetics

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- Less shrinkage

Disadvantages:

- Contraindicated in posteriors.

Tetric ceram (Correctable ceramics):-

Ceromers are defined as ceramic optimized polymers of

composite resin used for the production of high quality restorations

even in the posterior segments.

Composition:-

- Barium – allumina fluorosilicate glass (ceramic filler)

- Spherical ceramic particles

- Pyrolitic silica

- Barium difluoride

- Silicate platelet agglomerates

- Special rheological modifier

Advantages:

- Ease in contouring and correcting

- High polishibility

- High smoothness

- No slumping

- High fluoride release

- Radiopacity

- Ease shade matching

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- High strength

- High durability

- Bio-compatible

- Less shrinkage

- Less chairside time

CAD/CAM System:

Definition: CAD/CAM ceramics are defined as machinable ceramic

materials formulated for the production of crowns and inlays

through the use of computer aided designs and computer aided

machining processes.

Procedure:

Shoulder Porcelains:

Definition: Shoulder porcelains are defined as porcelains that are

formulated to be sintered at a lower temperature than that of

opaque porcelain and higher than body porcelain to produce an

esthetic porcelain margin as an alternative to a metal margin on a

metal ceramic crown.

Advantages:

- Better esthetics

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- Less plaque accumulation

Disadvantages:

- Prone to breakage

- Less marginal adaptation

CONCLUSION:

Although reaching somewhat of a plateau in its development

of ceramics and metal ceramic restoration will certainly continue to

evolve.

Recent improvements in both the composition of ceramics

and methods of forming core of all ceramic crowns; have greatly

enhanced the ability to produce more accurate and fracture

resistant jacket crown made entirely of ceramic material. New

generation ceramics have been introduced including Dicor glass

ceramic, Dicor MGC, Optec HSP, IPS empress.

The objective is gained through the future dental ceramics is

a bough because the increased demand for tooth colored

restoration will lead to an increased demand for ceramic based and

polymer based restoration.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

 Restorative Materials – Craig

 Science of Dental Materials – Skinner’s

 Metal Ceramics – Makato Yamamoto

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 Fundamentals of Tooth Preparation – Shilling Burg

 Contemporary Fixed Prosthodontics – Rosenstial, Land

Fujimoto.

 ARJ and Science of Dental Ceramics – WE MC Clean – I and

II

 Dental Lab Procedures FPD – Rudd Marrow

 The D.C.N.A. – 1997 (Oct) R. Sheldonstein

JOURNALS:

1. Effect of Oxidation on Ceramometal bond strength – by

Robert J. Dent et al. JPC 1982, Vol.47.

2. Polished Versus Autoglazed Porcelain surfaces – by Lepold H.

Kluser et al. JPD 1982, vol.47.

3. A Comparison of the Abrasiveness of 6 Ceramic Surfaces and

Gold – By Richard Jacob et al. JPD 1991, Vol.66.

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