The status of indirect restorative dental materials.

The ideal restorative material should enable restoration of teeth that have either suffered trauma or have been prepared during the removal of caries to their original function and appearance. At the same time a seal should develop between the material and the tooth to prevent bacteria-laden fluids from permeating the dentine and reaching the pulp. Few, if any, of the available materials fulfil these requirements. This, the second of a short series, considers the status of indirect restorative materials as the millennium approaches. In this review indirect restorative materials are regarded as those which call not only upon the dexterity and judgement of the dental practitioner, but also upon the skills of the dental technician and techniques of construction that are suitable for use only in a laboratory. Included in this group are the dental casting and bonding alloys, dental ceramics and those resin composites that are shaped, cured and finished in the laboratory.