Bonding to silica-based dental ceramics using etching techniques and silanization is well established, but for bonding of dental oxide ceramics with little or no silica no particular method is generally accepted. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to summarize the current knowledge on bonding to dental oxide ceramics. Approved bonding methods to dental oxide ceramics require first cleaning, roughening and chemical activation through air-abrasion by pure alumina or silica-coated alumina particles. Secondly, chemical coupling agents such as phosphate monomers or silanes are used depending on the surface composition after air-abrasion. Although a large number of laboratory bonding studies on dental oxide ceramics exist, clinical long-term studies on bonded oxide ceramic restorations without mechanical retention are still needed to prove whether laboratory bonding methods provide long-term durable adhesion under clinical conditions. (C) Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2009