Final Report Summary - DENTBIOCOMP (Novel bioactive glass-ceramic composites for dental restorations)
Dental ceramics used in restorative dentistry have to attain specific stringent properties. There is therefore increasing need for carrying out further research in the field of dental ceramics in order to develop materials with controlled properties and bioactive function1. The sol-gel process involves the transition of a system from polymeric precursors in liquid phase into a solid inorganic material allowing the fabrication of new glasses and ceramics with controlled mictrostructure and properties. The advantages of the sol-gel method are its versatility to be applied to a wide range of compositions and the capability of obtaining high purity materials, the composition of which can be controlled to a high extent. This method has been applied for example for the development of bioactive silicate glasses at notably lower temperatures than that required for melt-derived bioactive glasses2. The ability to synthesize glasses at low sintering temperature is significant enabling the preparation of glass-ceramics with special compositions which are not possible to be obtained by the melting process.
