Minimum requirements for new dental materials

A brief review of the development of standards for testing and certification of dental materials is presented. The tests employed in the standards are not correlated for the clinical use of the materials, nor to the reasons for failures of the materials. They are, therefore, of limited value for the selection of materials to be used in practice but they are important for quality control of the manufacture of the materials. Previous certification programmes are being discontinued. The responsibility for selecting safe and efficient materials is transferred to the clinicians whereas making safe and efficient materials still is the responsibility of the manufacturers.