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Sintering Strategies for Dental Zirconia Ceramics: Slow Versus Rapid?

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Abstract

Purpose of Review

Advances in zirconia ceramics have expanded their application in dentistry, necessitating faster delivery of zirconia-based restorations. With the introduction of high translucency grades of zirconia ceramics, the rapid sintering strategies that aim to reduce processing times can have a central impact on clinically relevant properties. The present review has surveyed the available literature evaluating the properties of rapidly sintered dental zirconia ceramics.

Recent Findings

Recent studies emphasize the evolution of sintering protocols for zirconia ceramics, especially highlighting differences between conventional sintering (CS) and rapid methods like speed (SS) and high-speed sintering (HSS). These modern rapid sintering techniques transform the microstructure of zirconia ceramics, impacting its translucency, flexural strength, and aging resistance. These properties exhibit variability based on zirconia type and chosen sintering process, with HSS showing particular promise.

Summary

Rapid sintering protocols offer efficient alternatives to traditional zirconia ceramic processing, with benefits in cost and time. Despite the recent findings, discrepancies persist within zirconia generations, calling for further standardization and investigation.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Slovenian Research Agency funding through research projects towards reliable implementation of monolithic zirconia dental restorations (J2–9222) and Preclinical and clinical investigations of zirconia dental ceramics fabricated by additive manufacturing technologies (J3–3064), and research program Ceramics and complementary materials for advanced engineering and biomedical applications (P2–0087).

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Author notes

  1. Tadej Mirt and Nikhil Bhootpur contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Prosthodontics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ljubljana, Vrazov trg 2, 1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Tadej Mirt, Tine Malgaj & Peter Jevnikar

  2. Department for Nanostructured Materials, Jožef Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Nikhil Bhootpur & Andraž Kocjan

  3. Jožef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Ljubljana, Slovenia

    Nikhil Bhootpur

  4. Clinic for Masticatory Disorders and Dental Biomaterials, Center for Dental Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Mutlu Özcan

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  1. Tadej Mirt
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Correspondence to Tadej Mirt.

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The Section Editors for the topical collection Dental Restorative Materials are Mutlu Özcan and Paulo Cesar. Please note that Mutlu Özcan was not involved in the editorial process of this article as she is a co-author.

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Mirt, T., Bhootpur, N., Malgaj, T. et al. Sintering Strategies for Dental Zirconia Ceramics: Slow Versus Rapid?. Curr Oral Health Rep 10, 233–242 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40496-023-00355-y

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