5 MATERIALS STILL IN USE

Some of the materials (not mentioned above) that are still in use for fills on ceramics include plaster of paris, epoxy, or acrylic resins bulked out with fillers such as microballons and fumed silica, as well as proprietary putty fillers such as Polyfilla and Dap. It is difficult to predict how long these restoration materials will continue to be in use. As research and new applications develop (Tennent et al. 1992), new materials with predictable and stable properties are discovered, and “old favorite” traditional materials slowly move to the endangered species list or disappear into the realm of the obsolete. New advances in polymer science and ceramic technology may yet provide us with a ceramic composite that has all the properties of a good casting and molding resin with the stability and reversibility of Class A resins (Feller 1975).