Recycling and Reintegration of Dental Zirconia into CAD/CAM Systems for Potential Industrial Applications

This study aimed to develop a recycling process for reintegrating dental zirconia waste into CAD/CAM systems and to demonstrate the feasibility of producing functional products from the recycled material. The process began with the purification of zirco-nia, followed by the fabrication of pre sintered blocks compatible with these systems. Subsequently, sintered commercial and recycled zirconia were characterized and compared through density measurements, Vickers hardness, flexural strength, X ray diffraction, hydrothermal degradation analysis, and scanning electron microscopy. The results showed that recycled zirconia exhibits structural properties suitable for practi-cal applications, enabling the fabrication of several industrial prototypes. Overall, this work demonstrates that high value materials such as zirconia can be successfully recy-cled and reintegrated into manufacturing workflows, thereby reducing harmful waste while contributing to environmental sustainability and cost reduction.