Executive Summary : | Conventional Ceramic Injection Moulding (CIM) technology of ceramic dental brackets is patented and few companies manufacture them worldwide. Moreover, none of the Indian companies are there who manufactures these ceramic brackets, which results in outright import and subsequent higher price. The above-mentioned reasons hinders popularization of ceramic brackets within the commoners of our country. In view of the above social scenario, the present project has been planned to develop indigenous capability to manufacture Alumina-Zirconia composite (Zirconia Toughened Alumina: ZTA) based "Orthodontic braces" at a competitive price to the metallic ones, by establishing the optimized process parameters of Micro ceramic Injection Moulding (µ-CIM) technique. It is worthwhile to mention here that, Bangalore Ceramics, Bangalore, an ISO certified company and leading Indian manufacturer of advanced ceramic components for various applications (automobile, defense, energy etc.) has given their consent to participate in the project as an "Industry partner", and assured to take the technology for commercialiasation, if developed successfully. The letter received from Bangalore Ceramics is attached with the proposal. It is further added that, Dr. Utpal Mukhopadhyay, DANTYAM, A complete Oral Care clinic and Research Centre, Durgapur has expressed his willingness to participate in the project as an "Medical Expert". Dr. Mukhopadhyay also assured to execute biocompatibility and debonding test of the proposed ZTA based "Clear/Translucent Orthodontic Braces", post development. The letter received from Dr. Utpal Mukhopadhyay, DANTYAM is attached with the proposal. Novelty compared to earlier work by the PI: Earlier work by the PI in the area leads to the development of prototype "Tooth colored dental brackets" out of alumina ceramic (of a chosen design). Whereas, it is proposed here to develop the complete "Clear/Translucent Orthodontic Braces" set, having 14-15 different constituent brackets. The innovative elements of the proposed ZTA braces, compared to ceramic braces available in the market as well as the earlier developed Tooth colored alumina dental brackets, are; (i) improved base structure, which is expected to facilitate improved fixing of brackets with the human tooth, as well as, easier debonding post treatment, (ii) interchangeability of brackets, (iii) improved mechanical properties due to the presence of grain growth inhibitors such as; MgO, ZnO along with the ZTA powder. |