Study on Spray Dried Yttria Stabilized Zirconia Dental Implants

Medical implants are devices, tissues or supports that are positioned in a suitable manner on any defective part of the human body to facilitate its smooth functioning again. Known as ‘prosthetics’, they may be used to offer support to a specific organ or tissues, distribute medication, or observe the body condition. While many of the implants are made from skin, bone or other tissues removed from the body itself, the artificial ones are made from engineering materials which could be any of the compatible metals, plastics, ceramics or even composites. The high end technologically advanced implant material is expected to withstand severe barriers and compatibility issues when in contact with the human body. One such application is dental implants, where, the materials must possess superior mechanical properties, exhibit good hydro-chemical and low thermal degradation characteristics. They are also required to possess characteristics such as low friction, strong wear resistance, good wettability and biocompatibility, when placed in the mouth. The only materials that come close to meeting the needs are ceramics, limited by the associated high fracture rate. Stabilized zirconia (stabilized with yttria, ceria etc.) has provided potential solution. Among the two stabilizers, ceria stabilized zirconia may be a better alternative to yttria stabilized zirconia. Other alternatives are alumina, apatites: but their use are constrained based upon technological and cost considerations. Implant product is a highly demanding technology. Spray drying is a suitable process methodology to obtain free flowing powders with uniform morphology and chemical composition, essential for an implant production. This paper presents (i) results from spray drying 8% Y 2 O 3 -stabilized ZrO 2 and (ii) a review of published literature pertaining to dental implant materials, the various processing methodologies, with special reference to stabilized zirconia and spray drying.