ZIRCONIA DENTAL LAB

The Use of Digital Intraoral Scanner in Zirconia Dental Lab

We would have told you to wait if you had asked us about investing in a dental digital scanner a few years back. Not anymore. Digital dental scanners have come a long way since. As such, The Art Of Aesthetics invested significantly to accommodate just about every digital technology in the dental industry.

You can connect your scanner to our lab. Please send us your request or let us know the email address associated with your scanner account. Then, select “The Art Of Aesthetics” from the scanner every time, and you can instantly transmit digital impressions to us. However, sometimes, important information gets lost somewhere in the digital world. Therefore, let us know what case you are sending is a precautionary practice. Also, if you have additional notes or lengthy instructions, please email us separately to ensure our ceramist received them. Digital files are suitable for most zirconia products.

High-end Zirconia & Zirconia Dental Lab

The use of zirconia in dental industries is the latest entry. In the past, they were popular in medical device, jewelry, aerospace, and other high-end and high-technology sectors. It is because the cost related, for example, design and manufacturing, was impractical for a small dental industry. Also, the technology lacked precision and accuracy in scanning and milling, for example, crown margins. At the same time, 3D printing the master working models were not possible. The detail and precision of printing the working model are of vital importance. At a dental lab, it is critical to simulate and capture in the model, for example, patient bites, interproximal contacts, and margin lines. After all, the high-resolution image of the scanner, the finest milling burs, and zirconia shades were parameters that were required to perfect a prosthetic crown.

Issues with Zirconia Products

Zirconia Shading

At the same time, zirconia comes in one solid color or shade. Given that everyone on this planet has unique teeth shades, one shade of zirconia can satisfy no particular patient shade. Unfortunately, one shade of zirconia in opaque white and high-density has limitations. Some companies formulate or pack to lesser density to produce less opaque zirconia. Of course, the downside of that is not a “zirconia” strength. Some may claim that “compromised zirconia” is still strong enough. Really? Even uncompromised manufactured zirconia fails due to the lack of malleability propensity.

Zirconia Not Bondable

There is another significant issue. When you take an X-ray of a zirconia crown, it resembles metal in an X-ray. Due to their dense propensity, light penetration is limited through a zirconia crown. As such, bonding or curring with light is not optimal. Therefore, the best option is cementing with adhesive.

Ability to Etch

More issues. The surface of the zirconia crown is smooth. Unlike metal in PFM, its surface cannot be etched easily with either chemical or sandblasting. As such, the ability of cementing to the surface of the teeth is not the same as a PFM. At our zirconia dental lab, we witness zirconia crowns and bridges coming off loose sometime after cementing. Actually, there are chemicals to etch zirconia, but we did not notice that they are significant enough to bond with natural teeth. Thus, cement bonding is not as strong as the other etchable materials such as e.max, PFM, or full gold crown. Therefore, zirconia crowns and bridges are not the solution for all types of restoration.

Anterior Zirconia

Again, the less densely packed zirconia, compromising zirconia’s strength with more aesthetic, are used in some anterior restorations. However, even at our zirconia dental lab, we find IPS e.max a more suitable choice for most anterior restorations. It bonds better, creating a stronger bond with natural teeth and an easier shade match for anteriors. Of course, zirconia will be a better choice if the strength is more critical.

Full Coverage Crowns & Bridges

All things considered, solid zirconia crowns are most suitable for full-coverage crowns for posterior restorations. The full cover crown provides enough surface tension to stay on. It’s an excellent alternative to very costly full gold crowns. After all, a full gold crown is “gold expensive!”

Alternative To Gold Crown

However, because of the soft malleability characteristic, gold can be more friendly to our dental health. Zirconia crown can be too hard on our jaw, lacking shock absorbency. Therefore, the optimal use of zirconia is layered with porcelain crowns and bridges.

Zirconia Layered

It provides almost everything that full zirconia lacks:

• shock absorbency
• custom shading
• strength of zirconia as a frame
• translucency and aesthetics
• anterior and posterior
• All except veneers, partial crowns, inlay, and only

It’s easily misunderstood that our zirconia dental lab is not keen on full zirconia. However, it’s far from the truth. It’s simply explaining zirconia’s properties to understand better or appreciate the benefits of zirconia. The better you understand the properties of zirconia, the better it is to use.

You can never appreciate the zirconia without understanding them, which is the reason for this article. The more you know of the limitation, the more options you have, not the way around.

At our lab, we have been explaining this to our dentists for the past 20 years. 

Why compromise the zirconia strength for anterior restoration? 

Our zirconia dental lab experience dictates the compromised zirconia for the anterior is not better than the uncompromised IPS e.max product in most cases.

Please consider IPS e.max versus zirconia for anterior restorations.

IPS e.max was a great addition to the dental lab when they introduced it a couple of decades ago. When bonded with natural teeth, lithium disilicate glass ceramics, 400 MPa strength, produce an amazing clinical result. With the bone and tissue healing around, you can get as close to the lifelike aesthetic as possible.