Full Zirconia Crowns
Strong, Beautiful & Cost effective
Full Zirconia Crowns and bridges
Want a beautiful aesthetic crown in the posterior region but the patient has a history of chipping existing porcelain crown or heavy occlusal wear?Thanks to the latest developments with zirconia and the cutting edge CAD CAM digital dentistry offered by our Dental Wings system, we are proud to be able to offer the new Full Zirconia CAD CAM Crowns and bridges from Ambridge Ceramics.
And they'll save you at least £50 per unit compared to a gold crown!
Benefits of a Full Zirconia Unit
Biocompatibility
Because zirconia is a 100% biocompatible material which is inert and readily accepted by the body, it's ideal for allergy sufferers or patients where there is a concern over allergies.Traditional crowns are made of many components and materials which have been cleared for use in the oral cavity, and while the majority of the time this offers no problems at all there are situations where a simple, single inert material would be beneficial.
Once glazed and finished our full zirconia crowns have very low plaque adhesion.
Aesthetics
Although we regularly obtain beautiful, natural results using traditional bonded crowns or e.max ceramics in the molar region, these may not last very well with a patient who is a bruxer or has a history or chipping crowns.So, the only comparison for patients with a history of chipping and heavy wear is the full gold crown and while these look beautiful to us (our gold team are very proud of their work) this often isn't the case from a patients point of view.
The gold can look out of place among all those other beautiful white teeth and this is where the full zirconia crown shows it's main advantage
Once stained, polished and glazed these look simply stunning and offer a fantastic fit.
Cost Efficiency
A major advantage of these crowns is their cost efficiency.
They costs exactly the same as a gold crown, but without any alloy charge! As the alloy used for gold crowns is around £30 + per gram, so by using a full zirconia crown instead of a gold crown will actually save you at least £50 per unit.
Fracture resistance
A full zirconia crown is virtually indestructible which means they will never chip or crack in the mouth if the full zirconia crown is produced and handled correctly.
Often the failures of traditional layered zirconia based frameworks are actually on the interface between the zirconia and layering porcelain. Because full zirconia crowns are milled from one single zirconia block there is no weak interface from which a bonding failure can occur.
Accuracy
Because the full zirconia crown is part of our new range of CAD CAM solutions it benefits form the consistent accuracy and reliability that CAD CAM solutions provide.
OK, I want one!
so we've seen what's so good about these restorations, why they are becoming a firm favourite in the U.S. (where they have been available for some time) and want to use them here. What's next?
Preperation
The beauty of the full zorconia crown is that it can be used on the types of preparation you would traditionally use on all ceramic preps, but you can remove less tooth as there will be no room required for the porcelain to be layered onto it, we can make a full zirconia crown with only 1mm of space!
The crucial thing is to avoid sharp edges, as you would for any all ceramic preparation as these create high stress points in the restoration
if you are unfamiliar with preparation protocols for zirconia, feel free to download our e.max preparation guide.
Fitting and finishing
To ensure a long problem free life of the crown and opposing dentition it is important to trim and polish the zirconia correctly if you have to make chairside adjustments.
It is important to polish any zirconia you adjust on a full zorconia crown to avoid leaving a harsh abbrasive surface for the opposing dentition to occlude against and also to prevent plaque formation.
Polished Full Zirconia Crowns have lower abrasion than traditional bonded crowns as shown in this study
Adjusting
If adjusting the zirconia crown use a micro diamond bur sprayed using water and air with light pressure to avoid heat which could cause micro-cracks in the material
Polishing
Use a standard porcelain polishing kit but as always keep the pressure light and short to avoid heat build up.
Further Reading
There's a great article on zirconia and the correct handling/finishing chairside published on Inside Dental Technology, for more information on chairside adjustments of zirconia Click Here
Once you've cut your beautiful prep and packaged up the work, simply download our lab cards and postage labels then send it off to us and we'll take care of the rest!
As always, if you'd like to talk about this restorative option or any other case you have in mind, call us on 01765 607347 and Mark or Steve will be more than happy to help.
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