Fracture behavior of contemporary ceramics produced by digital manufacturing

Continuous efforts have been made to enhance the quality of dental ceramics to improve the longevity of permanent restorations, which is the key to achieving long-term success for prosthetic treatment. When a failure occurs, restoration replacement often necessitates additional costs and supplementary interventions accompanied by sacrificing healthy dental tissues. Therefore, reducing the failure rate and improving the lifetime of ceramic restorations have always been the common goal for dental clinicians and technicians. With the development of new ceramic materials and digital manufacturing techniques, it is vital to have sufficient scientific knowledge of the materials and manufacturing to make the proper clinical decision and manufacture the restorations using appropriate techniques with optimized design to minimize fracture risk. This thesis aims to provide valuable insights into the understanding and application of contemporary dental ceramics and manufacturing techniques, as well as the optimization of manufacturing processes for enhancing their mechanical properties, reliability, and longevity.