Silicon nitride ceramic for all-ceramic dental restorations

Silicon nitride (Si₃N₄) is one of the promising ceramics for dental restoration due to providing significant benefits during the application. This study aimed to investigate the potential use of Si₃N₄ for all-ceramic dental restorations by characterizing some critical properties as color shade, mechanical resistance, shear-bond strength and radiolucency. For our study, porous Si₃N₄ ceramic was produced by partial sintering process with limited amounts of sintering additives and low temperature. A commercial ZrO₂ ceramic was prepared according to manufacturer's instructions and results were compared with Si₃N₄. Si₃N₄ is an attractive ceramic for dental applications with good mechanical properties even in porous form, it has additional advantages over the conventional ceramics used as restorative material, such as, inherent antibacterial/anti-infective activity, radiolucency, and lower hardness. It is expected that Si₃N₄ will become popular in dental applications as well.