A New Classification System for All-Ceramic and Ceramic-like Restorative Materials

❶Glass-matrix ceramics

1. Feldspathic
- Composition: hydrated aluminosilicate, quartz(silica), naturally occurring feldspar( mixture of
potassium & sodium aluminosilicates)
➢ Potassium feldspar forms leucite crystals; for thermal expansion compatibility with
metals substructures (COE ≤10% of the substructure) and for improved strength.
- Used as veneering material on metal alloy & ceramic substrates & as esthetic material bonded
onto tooth structure
2. synthetic ceramics:
① leucite based ② lithium disilicate & derivatives ③fluorapatite based
- Their glass phases may be combined with apatite crystals, in addition to leucite.
- When used as a veneer material on all-ceramic frameworks, these materials are modified to
match the coefficient of thermal expansion of their respective frameworks
- For enhanced mechanical properties and use as a substructure material, crystalline phase
reinforced feldspathic porcelains with metal oxides are available
3. Glass-infiltrated:
The use of this class of materials is diminished due to the increased popularity of lithium disilicate and
zirconia, particularly for CAD/CAM fabrication.
① Alumina
- Fabricated utilizing the slip-casting technique↓
→ (A slurry of densely packed Al2O3 is sintered to a refractory die, and after a porous skeleton
of alumina particles is formed, infiltration with lanthanum glass is performed in a second firing
to infiltrate the porosity and increase strength)
- Due to its opacity, porcelain veneer layering is required.
②Alumina & magnesium
- the glass is infiltrated into a synthetically produced porous MgAl₂O₄ core.
③ Alumina & zirconia
- Partially stabilized zirconia oxide is added to the slip composition of the Al₂O₃ to strengthen the
ceramic.

❷Polycrestalline ceramics
* fine-grain crystalline structure provides strength and fracture toughness, but tending to have
limited translucency
* the absence of a glass phase makes the polycrystalline ceramics difficult to etch with hydrofluoric
acid, requiring long etching times or higher temperature.

1. Alumina
- Consist of high-purity Al₂O₃ (up to 99.5%)
- Used as core material for fabrication with CAD/CAM
- Has very high hardness (17-20 GPa) & relatively high strength
- Highest modulus of elasticity of all dental ceramics (E= 300 GPa) which led to bulk fractures
2. Stabilized zirconia
- Transformation toughening (when transforming from tetragonal to monoclinic accompanied by
4% volume increase → can close cracks→ large increases in fracture toughness of the material)
- Fully or partially stabilizing zirconia at the tetragonal or cubic phases at room temperature;
➢ by alloying pure zirconia with oxides such as yttrium, magnesium, calcium, and cerium.
➢ according to their microstructure zirconia ceramics are classified as↓
① fully stabilized zirconia (FSZ)→ zirconia is in its cubic form and contains more than 8 mol%
yttrium oxide (Y₂O₃).
②partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ)→ formed by nano-sized tetragonal or monoclinic particles in a
cubic matrix
③ tetragonal zirconia polycrystals (TZP) → monolithic materials mainly of tetragonal phase
stabilized most commonly with yttria or ceria.
→Dental zirconias are all of this type, most commonly Y-TZP, as this form has the highest
strength and fracture toughness after machining and sintering.

3. Zirconia toughened alumina (ZTA) & alumina toughened zirconia (ATZ)

- The addition of unstabilized zirconia to alumina increased the fracture toughness of alumina due
to interaction between the crack front and the second phase combined with interactions
between the crack front and preexisting microcracks formed during the tetragonal to monoclinic
transformation of zirconia.
- ZTA should have > 50% by weight of Al, whereas ATZ should present > 50% by weight of Zr.
- Advantages of these composite materials when compared to Y-TZP are resistance to low-
temperature degradation, higher strength & fracture toughness, and more than twice Y-TZP’s
cyclic fatigue strength.
-
❸Resin-matrix ceramics

1. Resin nanoceramic
- Consist of highly cured resin matrix reinforced with 80% by weight nanoceramic particles
- The combination of discrete silica nanoparticles (20 nm diameter), zirconia nanoparticles (4 to
11 nm diameter), and zirconia-silica nanoclusters (bound aggregates of nanoparticles) reduces
the interstitial spacing of the filler particles, enabling this high nanoceramic content

2. Glass ceramic in a resin interpenetrating matrix (hybrid ceramic)

- Composed of dual network:
o Feldspathic network (86% by weight/75% by volume)
o Polymer network (14% by weight/25% by volume) → UDMA & TEGDMA

3. Zirconia-silica ceramic in a resin interpenetrating matrix

- Tailored with different organic matrices as well as variation in ceramic weight percentage, eg, silica
powder, zirconium silicate, UDMA, TEGDMA, micro-fumed silica, pigments
* These materials can be utilized to manufacture restorations by one or more of the following
fabrication methods:
• Freehand layering on a refractory die, platinum foil (feldspathic ceramics), or zirconia
substructure (fluorapatite-based ceramics)
• Hot pressing of an ingot into a mold (eg, lithiumdisilicate)
• Slip-casting technique (eg, glass-infiltratedalumina)
• CAD/CAM of a block or disk (eg, stabilized zirconia, lithium disilicate)

* Selection of the prosthetic material varies depending on:

• The color of the abutment & the degree of translucency of the natural teeth that need to be
reproduced into the restoration
• Whether to use a particular material as a substructure to then be veneered with another
ceramic or as a monolithic full-contour restoration that needs, at most, to be surface stained.
• Etchability of the ceramic or ceramic-like materials because it will indicate the way the
restoration can be luted with conventional cements or adhesive resin cements.
➢ Indications for adhesive cementation → abutment height of less than 4 mm
➢ Angle of convergence between the abutment walls greater than 10 degrees.