Technical Details of Dental Glass

High transparency of the special glass is essential so the composite material can be matched to the natural color of the tooth by adding color pigments. SCHOTT’s range of high-quality dental glasses enable a perfect match of the refractive index of glass and composite.

A high glass filler load helps to reduce shrinkage of the composite resin during polymerization and improves its mechanical strength and durability. By mixing different grain-size particles, polishability and esthetic appearance of the filling can be enhanced. Grinding into ultra-fine grain sizes is one of the key processes to enable this.

To achieve high gloss and optical translucency, dental materials demand glass particles with the highest purity levels. SCHOTT adheres to stringent quality requirements, starting with the raw materials (which must be free of any impurities or discoloring) to the milling process (which must avoid abrasion and contamination with foreign particles).

Appropriate radiopacity is required for distinguishing the filling from surrounding dental tissue and evaluating tooth defects. This can be achieved by adding SCHOTT’s special radiopaque additives to the filler material.