Novel aesthetic dental restorative materials

蛀牙或龋齿仍然是发达国家最常见的疾病之一，影响60- 90%的学龄儿童和绝大多数成年人。继续使用基于汞的“银”填充物来替代腐烂的组织，尽管非常具有成本效益，但仍存在争议，并且需要用于牙科修复的新的、耐用的和美学上可接受的材料。牙科陶瓷是迄今为止生物相容性最好的牙科修复材料，也是缺失牙体最自然的合成替代材料。此外，患者的接受度很高，特别是在口腔前部区域，临床寿命很长。该提案旨在生产适用于“椅旁”加工的云母基牙科玻璃陶瓷。我们的目标是应用动力学中子衍射和小角中子散射来研究这些材料在真实的时间结晶所涉及的阶段，这将使我们能够对影响修复材料最终微观结构和性能的因素进行全面描述。这些基于中子的新技术的使用将为这些材料的生产提供独特的见解，并使我们能够定制组合物和热处理以满足临床要求。

Tooth decay or caries is still one of the most common diseases in developed countries affecting 60-90 % of schoolchildren and the vast majority of adults. The continuing use of mercury based 'silver' fillings to replace decayed tissue, although extremely cost effective, is controversial and there is a need for new, durable and aesthetically acceptable materials for dental restorations. Dental ceramics have been found to be the most biocompatible materials to date for dental restorations and are the most natural-appearing synthetic replacement material for missing tooth substance. Furthermore patient acceptance is high and particularly in the anterior regions of the mouth, clinical longevity is good.This proposal is aimed at producing mica based dental glass-ceramics, suitable for 'chairside' processing. We aim to apply kinetic neutron diffraction and small angle neutron scattering to look at the stages involved in the crystallisation of such materials in real time, which will enable us to undertake a comprehensive description of the factors which affect the final microstructure and properties of the restorative material. The use of these novel neutron based techniques will provide unique insights into the production of these materials and allow us to tailor compositions and heat treatments to meet clinical requirements.