Zirconia-Ceramic steel:A Biomaterial

The Stone Age and Bronze Age were named for the materials that dominated these major historical periods. Consequently, the modern era, which has encountered an ever- increasing assortment of ceramic materials for industrial or biomedical use could be characterized as the "ceramic age".At the end of the XXI century, dental ceramics have been considered among the most promising restorative materials, because of noticeable prosthetic advantages.However, dental ceramics encountered an undeniable degree of resistance in the clinicians due to limiting factors, mainly associated to mechanical shortcomings: brittleness, low tensile strength and fracture toughness, ease of crack propagation, poor marginal fit, difficulty of repair.The invention of zirconia solved many problems. With the introduction of zirconia, FPDs and tooth colored implants are feasible.Over the last decade, zirconia technology has propelled a rapid development of metal free dentistry that may provide high biocompatibility, enhanced esthetics and improved strength. Zirconia has mechanical properties similar to those of metal and its color is similar to tooth color.