Open Position for a 4-Year Full-Time Assistant Lecturer

OPEN POSITION for a 4-year full-time research scholarship (leading towards a PhD degree - Catholic University Leuven, BIOMAT K.U.Leuven, Belgium) Prof. B. Van Meerbeek, Dr. J. De Munck, Prof. J. Vleugels, Prof. I. Naert The open position involves a research project (OT/10/052) funded by the K.U.Leuven at the Leuven BIOMAT Research Cluster of the Depts. of Conservative & Prosthetic Dentistry, in collaboration with the Department of Metallurgy and Materials Engineering Title: AGEING-RESISTANT ZIRCONIA CERAMICS FOR DENTAL RESTORATIONS

Summary of project: Zirconia ceramic possesses a low wear rate combined with a strength/toughness surpassing that of alumina ceramics, because of which zirconia ceramics have clinically been used as heads in total hip prostheses since 1985. However, hundreds of zirconia THP-heads failed catastrophically between 1999 and 2001, having lead to its withdrawal from the market soon after. Later in 2007, the problem of catastrophic failures was attributed to low- temperature degradation, i.e. transformation of the meta-stable tetragonal to the monoclinic phase (at 20-250°C), initiated and accelerated by water penetration. Somewhat surprisingly, the same zirconia ceramics are becoming increasingly popular for dental prosthetic rehabilitation since 5 years, mainly because of their high-precision and relatively low-cost CAD-CAM processing, and their superior aesthetic potential as compared to metal. Despite dentists have reported rather minor shortcomings, such as chipping of the veneering porcelain and the difficulty to adhesively lute zirconia-based fixed partial dentures to teeth, they today seem insufficiently aware of the LTD- driven ageing problem of zirconia ceramics, as has been acknowledged in recent literature. We therefore aim to develop ageing-resistant zirconia ceramics for dental restorations, by: (1) Assessing the LTD risk of dental zirconia ceramics; (2) Unravelling the mechanisms and kinetics of LTD; (3) Designing and synthesizing ageing-resistant zirconia ceramics; (4) Searching for durable tooth-zirconia bonding procedures; (5) Improving the compatibility of the zirconia-veneering porcelain. With the underneath detailed project proposal, we thus intend not only to better assess the potential risk on premature failure of FPDs, but also to contribute to the development of more LTD-resistant zirconia ceramics, to provide solutions for the zirconia-veneering chipping defects, and to improve the adhesive luting potential of zirconia frameworks in order to make their clinical application less invasive. The final objective of this research project is to prolong the clinical longevity of full-ceramic zirconia-based dental restorations. Today, the actual clinical lifetime of zirconia-based restorations is still unknown, since clinical trials have so far only provided 3- to 5- year clinical data.

Requirements: The candidate should have a university degree (dentist by preference, but also physician, biologist, bioengineer, biomedical scientist, etc.). The candidate is strongly motivated to conduct the project towards a PhD degree (4 years) (see http://www.kuleuven.be/phd/).

Starting date: as soon as possible.

Salaried position: Doctoral scholarship of minimum € 1730,-/month net (depending on the family situation).

Selection method: The application requires a written solicitation, extended CV, and contact information for three references. A pre-selection is based on the comparison of the submitted files. The candidate should be prepared to travel to Leuven for an interview.

Solicitation and CV are to be sent electronically to Prof. B. Van Meerbeek [email protected] before October 4, 2010.