Mechanical and optical properties of feldspathic ceramics and lithium disilicate: literature review

Abstract

Objective: this literature review presents the existing data on the esthetic capacity and fracture resistance of feldspathic and lithium disilicate ceramics made for CAD/CAM. Material and Methods: original articles on feldspathic ceramics and lithium disilicate were collected in journals in the PubMed and ScienceDirect databases from 2015 to 2020 using the search terms “lithium disilicate AND esthetic AND CAD/CAM,” “lithium disilicate AND fatigue AND CAD/CAM,” “lithium disilicate AND fracture AND CAD/CAM,” “feldspathic AND esthetic AND CAD/CAM,” “feldspathic AND fatigue AND CAD/CAM,” “feldspathic AND fracture AND CAD/CAM.” relevant articles published previously to 2015 were also selected by the authors. Longitudinal studies, literature reviews, clinical cases and in vitro studies were included. Results: in total, 209 articles were selected and 16 included for comparison. Data presented good esthetic capability for both materials, disilicate presented higher fracture strength. Conclusion: the study concluded that feldspathic ceramics and lithium disilicate for CAD/CAM have satisfactory optical capacity for esthetics restorations when multicolor blocks are used. Lithium disilicate should be chosen in situations of greater masticatory effort or thinness of the prosthetic piece