Resin Bonding to Zirconia

Abstract

The use of zirconia for dental applications has increased substantially over the past decade. This is evident from the wide variety of commercial products available on today's market and the wealth of information in the scientific literature. Its uses range from single-unit crowns and fixed-partial dentures to entire dental implant systems and nanoparticle fillers in composite resins. Zirconia, sometimes described as “ceramic steel,” possesses the ideal properties for dental use: superior strength, toughness, and fatigue resistance, excellent wear properties, and biocompatibility. However, the nonreactive surface of zirconia presents a consistent issue of poor adhesion to other materials (synthetic or tissue). Here, we look at several research manuscripts that describe approaches and pretreatments to increase zirconia surface reactivity for enhanced adhesion with resin cements.