Mica glass ceramics for dental restorations

Ceramics are popular as dental restorative materials for missing teeth due to their esthetics, chemical durability and ease of fabrication. Glass ceramics are commonly used for the fabrication of dental inlays, veneers, dental crowns and bridges. Mica containing glass ceramics (SiO2-Al2O3-MgO-K2O-B2O3-F) are one of the potential materials due to their machinability, bioactivity and resemblance to tooth colour. The review aims to provide an overview of dental ceramics with emphasis on mica glass ceramics, and their strengthening mechanisms with nucleating agents. The review discusses the clinically relevant properties of various mica based glass ceramic compositions such as fracture toughness, hardness, bending strength, machinability, wear, translucency and provides recommendations for their biocompatibility testing.