Evaluation of contemporary ceramic materials.

The last 25 years have witnessed the introduction of a bewildering number of ceramic systems to the dental profession. Most of these systems have been introduced with little or no clinical testing. Laboratory studies of physical and mechanical properties of ceramics provide little predictive information regarding likely clinical survival rates. Early adopters of many of these new systems learned quickly that most of the systems had poor survival rates. Meaningful clinical trials must be of 5 years’ duration, which means it will be several years after the introduction of a product to the market before clinicians will have an evidence base on which to make educated clinical decisions.