Zirconia Bridges & Crowns

Zirconia Crowns (ceramic without metal)

Some complete ceramic restorations use zirconia, a highly hard ceramic, as a sturdy base material. A digital image of the patient’s mouth, either by a 3D digital scan of the patient, an impression, or a model, is typically used to build the zirconia substructure (core). After that, a soft pre-sintered block of zirconia is used to grind the core.

The tooth’s final color and shape can be achieved by layering attractive feldspathic porcelain over the zirconia core structure. “Monolithic” zirconia crowns are frequently composed solely of zirconia ceramic without any aesthetically pleasing porcelain stacked on top, due to the weak binding strength of layered porcelain fused to zirconia. Zirconia is the strongest substance used in dentistry and the most well-known ceramic in the industry. High-value monolithic zirconia crowns typically have an opaque look and are not translucent. Many dentists will not place monolithic crowns on anterior (front) teeth for aesthetic reasons.

The strength and aesthetic qualities of a crown are largely determined by the materials used in dentistry. The strongest crowns in dentistry are made from certain monolithic zirconia materials, but these crowns are typically not regarded as aesthetically pleasing enough for frontal teeth. Although these crowns are not as sturdy as monolithic zirconia crowns, they are more aesthetically pleasing when porcelain is fused to the zirconia core.