Strengthening mechanisms of current dental porcelains.

Dental porcelains have a high glass content, which provides the translucency necessary for esthetic restorations. Because glasses are brittle, they fail under tension or bending by the propagation of preexisting flaws (e.g., scratches, porosities). Several approaches that are based on impeding the propagation of flaws have been used to strengthen dental porcelains, including bonding to metals, adding microcrystalline phases, and surface treatments (i.e., polishing, ion exchange, hydration). Through these methods, porcelain systems are used routinely for all-ceramic anterior restorations; however, porcelain-fused-to-metal restorations remain the most reliable for posterior applications.