Shrinkage reduction of dental composites by addition of expandable zirconia filler

A problem with dental resin composites is the polymerization shrinkage, which makes the filling loosen from the tooth or induces crack formation. We have developed an expandable metastable tetragonal zirconia filler, which upon reaction with water, is able to counter the polymer shrinkage. The shrinkage of the composite was calculated from density measurements using Archimedes method. The rate of the phase transformation in resin was measured by determining the volume fraction of monoclinic zirconia (vm). The composite had a vm of 0.5 after 8 h of water storage. The overall shrinkage of the composites was reduced from 3.2% (initially) to 1.7%.