Zirconia

Zirconia, sometimes referred to as “ceramic steel”, has properties that are optimal for use in dental restorations. Not only does zirconia offer a toughness and strength comparable to titanium (900-1200 Mpa), but it does it while still providing an aesthetic tooth coloured restoration.

One of the big criticisms of single colour monolithic zirconia restorations however is that they are quite flat and opaque in colour. While this may not matter in a molar, as we move towards the front of the mouth it can end up with a poor aesthetic result.

Multilayer zirconia offers far greater aesthetics than conventional flat zirconia by introducing a colour gradient and greater translucency towards the incisal area. It now allows us to provide a very strong full contour restoration in an aesthetic area, or where aesthetics are important to the patient and the clinician.

The most common applications for basic zirconia include

  • Conventional crowns/bridges (Posterior only)
  • Implant crowns/bridges (Posterior only)
The most common applications for a multilayer zirconia include

  • Conventional crowns (posterior or anterior)
  • Dental bridges (posterior or anterior)
  • Implant crowns (posterior or anterior)
  • Implant supported bridges (posterior or anterior)
  • Substrate for porcelain fused to Zirconia Crowns.
Improvements in the aesthetics of zirconia based materials, particularly with the introduction of translucent and multi-layer varieties, has increased the range of appropriate clinical applications in recent years. The most common applications for zirconia include

  • Conventional crowns (Posterior teeth)
  • Dental bridges (Posterior teeth)
  • Implant crowns (Posterior teeth)
  • Implant supported bridges (Posterior teeth)