Abstract
To repair dental defects with ceramics, prior to the mid-1960s, dental restorations such as ceramic crowns were fabricated using porcelain. In the 1980s, glass-ceramic dental materials were developed. In recent years, by combining the CAD/CAM system with elements of dental restoration technology, it is possible to make crowns and 3-unit anterior bridges through copy-milling cores from industrially partially sintered alumina blanks and glass-infiltrated technology. Over the last decades the developments of dental restoration using ceramic have resulted in the filing of many patents. The aim of this paper is to review these patents, categorize them focusing on the three parts which include dental restoration materials and their composition, the preparation of the raw materials and the fabrication of the restorations including relative technology and apparatus. In the end, we discuss the tendency of the dental restoration, the work to be improved and have a discussion from a systematic perspective. This review article also includes relevant patents.
Keywords: Dental ceramics, restoration, glass-ceramic, alumina, glass-infiltrated, preparation, fabrication, CAD/CAM, tendency, perspective