Review of Literature

Dental crowns have been used for decades to restore compromised, heavily restored teeth, and for aesthetic improvements. New CAD/CAM (Computer Aided Design/Computer Aided Manufacturing) materials and systems have been developed and evolved in the last decade for fabrication of all-ceramic restorations. Dental CAD/CAM technology is gaining popularity because of its benefits in terms of time consuming, materials savings, standardisation of the fabrication process, and predictability of the restorations. The number of steps required for the fabrication of a restoration is less compared to traditional methods (Fig 1). Another benefit of CAD/CAM dentistry includes the use of new materials and data acquisition, which represents a non-destructive method of saving impressions, restorations and information that is saved in a computer and constitutes an extraordinary communication tool for evaluation. The incorporation of dental technology has not only brought a new range of manufacturing methods and material options, but also some concerns about the processes involving restorations’ fit, quality, accuracy, short and long-term prognosis. The purpose of this document is to provide a review of the literature regarding the different materials and systems available up until 2015 in the USA.