US Patent Issued to Ivoclar Vivadent on March 18 for "Glass ceramic having SiO 2 as main crystal phase" (Swiss, Austrian, Liechtensteiner Inventors)

ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,252,435, issued on March 18, was assigned to Ivoclar Vivadent AG (Schaan, Liechtenstein).

"Glass ceramic having SiO 2 as main crystal phase" was invented by Markus Rampf (Seewis-Dorf, Switzerland), Marc Dittmer (Feldkirch, Austria), Christian Ritzberger (Grabs, Switzerland), Marcel Schweiger (Chur, Switzerland) and Wolfram Holand (Schaan, Liechtenstein).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Glass ceramics having SiO2 as main crystal phase and precursors thereof are described which are characterized by very good mechanical and optical properties and in particular can be used as restoration material in dentistry."

The patent was filed on July 12...