All Ceramics Restoration

• Introduction
• Application
• Brief History
• Do Ceramic Crowns look Natural?
• Know Which Crown Type is Right for Me?
• How Many Visits will Treatment Take for my Crown Procedure?

Introduction

It might come as a surprise, but "all-ceramic"restorations have been around for most of the past century. These restorations have no metal and are totally made of ceramic glass sometimes strengthened with a translucent material such as zirconium. They have always been a highly desirable cosmetic solution for front teeth even without the availability of modern bonding. Incorporating bonding with all-ceramic crowns potentially can restore both the strength and beauty to that of unblemished natural teeth. Today teeth that have too much damage to be corrected with fillings or veneers can still be made white and natural with all ceramic crowns. Examples of all-ceramic crown systems we use are Empress, Procera, and Lava, as well as computer aided all-ceramic designed crowns. Dr.Gupta with your input, decides which system is the most appropriate to achieve strongest the most natural looking crowns for your smile.

In prosthodontics, gold is the best material for use in fixed restorations due to its superior marginal adaptation, wear resistance and kindness to the opposing dentition but then the aesthetic demands of the dentists driven by the aesthetic demands of the patients changed this equation and new techniques and materials were developed to fulfill those demands. Metal-ceramic restorations went through several stages till it gained a degree of success that allowed it to be in many ways a better replacement for gold restorations and today it’s considered one of the most successful and widely used ceramic system in prosthetic dentistry. However, this metal base can affect the aesthetics of the porcelain by decreasing the light transmission through the porcelain and by creating metal ion discolorations. In addition, some patients have allergic reactions or sensitivity to various metals. These drawbacks, have prompted the development of new all-ceramic systems that do not require metal, yet have the high strength and precision fit of ceramo-metal systems The intent is to create a translucent restoration that mimics the appearance of the natural tooth, but without compromising the other factors that are important for the clinical success.

Application

All ceramic finds its application in the fabrication of different prosthesis or part of prosthesis in dentistry like

• full crown,
• bridge
• inlay-onlay
• veneer
• Post and core
• implant abutment
• implant prosthesis

BRIEF HISTORY

The first all-ceramic crowns introduced by Land in 1903 were relatively weak materials with limited clinical use. In 1965, McLean and Hughes formulated aluminous porcelain compositions that are still in use today. These materials are composed of feldspathic porcelain to which approximately 50 percent aluminum oxide is added to increase the strength and baking temperature. As such, aluminous porcelain compositions can be used as cores to replace the metal substructure used in ceramo-metal constructions. They are veneered with conventional feldspathic porcelain to reproduce the contour and shade of a natural tooth. Because aluminous porcelain shrinks during the baking procedure, the fit of finished aluminous crowns is generally much poorer than that of ceramo-metal crowns. Although aluminous crowns are considered more lifelike in appearance than their ceramometal counterparts, their successful fabrication is extremely technique-sensitive. The clinical fracture reported for these types of restorations is relatively high: 2 percent for anterior crowns and 15 percent for posterior crowns. More recently, newer types of all-ceramic restorations have been developed that may prove to have a lower incidence of clinical fracture for three important reasons: -

 -All-ceramic restorations today consist of stronger materials and involve better fabricating techniques.
- Most all-ceramic restorations can be etched and bonded to the underlying tooth structure with the new dentin adhesives.
- With greater tooth reduction than what was previously used for PJCs, clinicians now provide laboratory technicians with enough room to create thicker and stronger restorations.

The newer types of ceramic dental restorative materials used for all-ceramic crowns, veneers and inlays are either variations of feldspathic porcelain (for example, Optec HSP,Jeneric/Pentron; In-Ceram,Vident; Cerec, Vident; Celay,Vident; IPS Empress, Ivoclar North America; and Optec Pressable Ceramic, Jeneric/Pentron) or are made of entirely different compositions (for example,Dicor, Dentsply, L.D.Caulk Division; Duceram LFC, Degussa Corp.). The methods used for fabricating some of these restorations are quite different from those used for ceramo-metal restorations and porcelain jacket crown

Do Ceramic Crowns look Natural?

The most attractive, natural, and life like crowns are those that treat light as close as possible to a healthy natural tooth. When normal light rays strike a tooth part of that light is reflected back from the surface of the tooth and part of the light enters the body (crown) of the tooth, bounces around inside the tooth and is transmitted back to the eye after it has been bent, called refracted light. The wave lengths of this reflected and refracted light can be measured by a machine called a spectrometer. Dental crown materials that more closely match the refraction index of a natural tooth will appear close to if not exactly like an adjacent natural tooth. This should be true in different light settings, meaning sun light, fluorescent and incandescent indoor light, as well as night club lighting.

The challenge to dentists has been to master this complex area of light transmission while still achieving the strength needed for a man made crown or cap to function biting and chewing different foods with minimal risk of breaking.

The challenge to dentists has been to master this complex area of light transmission while still achieving the strength needed for a man made crown or cap to function biting and chewing different foods with minimal risk of breaking.

It is thought that the elements needed for greater long term success were the ability to bond crowns to teeth and the availability of resin cements both of which are available today.

Dentistry now sits at the threshold of a new era for all porcelain crowns and bridges. One in which camera captured digital images will be able to reduce or eliminate the need to take impressions in the mouth. The digital information obtained can then be used to make all the necessary components involved in making an all ceramic crown which of course could also be digitally made.

Know Which Crown Type is Right for Me?

At Smiles by Design, Dr.Gupta will examine your mouth FREE and tell you which crown type is suited for your problem. If your problem can be solved in a less involved way such as with Invisalign, porcelain laminate veneers, bonding, reshaping teeth, or whitening, Dr. Gupta will advise you of this at this FREE consultation.

How Many Visits will Treatment Take for my Crown Procedure?

Most all ceramic single crown cases are completed in just two visits. Cases that involve multiple teeth can involve more appointments. However, your teeth are always protected with cosmetic pleasing temporary crowns.