Ceramic crowns are made of porcelain or zirconium oxide.

Today, for the manufacture of crowns and bridges most often used zirconium oxide.

Crowns made of zirconium oxide consist of two layers: the inner layer is a high-strength zirconium frame, and the outside is a porcelain mass.

The zirconium frame in strength is only slightly inferior to metal, but at the same time it transmits light quite well.

This property of zirconium allows crowns to have some translucency, which gives a great resemblance to artificial zirconium teeth with real teeth.

Advantages and disadvantages

Zirconia crowns have several advantages:

• Transmit completely transparency and shade of natural teeth.
• Excellent aesthetics that lasts for the entire period of use of dental structures. The crown keeps shine, does not darken and does not grow dull.
• High accuracy of the fit of the denture to the tooth stump. This feature minimizes the risk of tooth decay under the crown and at the border between the structure and the tooth.
• High strength dental construction.

Among the disadvantages of zirconium structures can be identified:

• The high cost of zirconium structures, which is explained by the high cost of equipment and consumables.

It should be noted that in return the patient receives new teeth of excellent quality and a beautiful smile.

Manufacturing technology

• At the preliminary stage of prosthetics, caries is treated and poor-quality fillings are replaced.
• Teeth turning under ceramic crowns.
• The turned tooth is scanned, and a three-dimensional model of the patient’s tooth is created on the computer, which is loaded into a special program where a model of the future crown is created.
• The resulting three-dimensional model consists of a zirconium frame and porcelain cladding.
• In the milling machine from the zirconium oxide preform, the crown frame is “sawed out”.
• Firing the finished frame in a special furnace, as a result of which it acquires metal strength.
• Layering ceramic mass on the frame and sintering in a special furnace.
• Before the last firing, structures are painted with special dyes.

Video: “Dental crowns based on zirconium dioxide”

Reviews

The manufacture of zirconia crowns using CAD / CAM technology is by far the most advanced.

When performed correctly, zirconium crowns have excellent aesthetics and a long service life.

In some cases, problems arise in violation of manufacturing technology due to a mismatch between the qualifications of the dentist and the dental technician, as well as poor preparation of the patient’s teeth for prosthetics.

Thus, patient reviews of zirconium oxide crowns are made up of factors:

1. The quality of preparation of the tooth for the installation of the crown. In case of poor-quality root canal filling, the crown, no matter how beautiful it is, will need to be removed to treat the tooth, and then prosthetized again. In the worst case, a bad tooth will have to be removed.
2. Qualification of an orthopedic dentist. The accuracy of the fit of the crowns to the teeth, and, consequently, the absence of pathological processes under the crown, depends on how correctly the teeth are machined, and then the casts are qualitatively taken and the patient’s teeth are scanned.
3. Qualification of a dental technician, on the availability of which the final result depends: the color of the crowns, the final shape, etc.

Here's what patients who have installed zirconium oxide crowns say:

• My front teeth were badly worn off and in the clinic I was offered to install crowns. I opted for zirconium oxide crowns because I really didn't want to sharpen my teeth very much. Designs were made using modern technology. The teeth were grinded using anesthesia, but it was still very unpleasant. After turning, temporary plastic crowns were fixed on what was left of the teeth and released home. A few days later, the real ones were replaced with temporary prostheses. I got used to new teeth very quickly.
• A year ago, zirconium crowns were installed on the front teeth, which were severely affected by caries. For a long time I chose between cermets and zirconia and preferred the second option. I chose zirconium designs because I didn’t want my friends to see that I had false teeth. Zirconia crowns are no different from my real teeth. The color and shape of the designs are identical to natural teeth. After installation, there was no discomfort. I got used to my teeth easily, I eat everything I want.
• By thirty-five years after constant fillings, my two teeth were badly damaged. I wanted to install metal-ceramic crowns, but the dentist recommended zirconium ones. As the doctor explained, the teeth that need to be prosthetized during a conversation will be visible to others, and artificial teeth made of ceramics will not differ from healthy teeth. Before the prosthetics, the doctor treated his teeth and filled the canals, then turned his teeth. Grinding your teeth is not painful, as the procedure is performed using anesthesia. Three days later, I had new teeth, which I have been using for the second year. The color of the crowns has not changed at all.
• After a tooth injury received more than a year ago, I had to depulpate it. As a result, the tooth darkened and stands out strongly against other healthy teeth. I wanted to hide the defect with a ceramic-metal crown, but the dentist said that now there is modern CAD / CAM technology for the manufacture of metal-free ceramic structures based on zirconium oxide. Before prosthetics, the tooth was turned and closed with a temporary prosthesis. After a week, a permanent zirconia structure was fixed. My artificial tooth, like a living one, has the same shape and color as real teeth.
• For more than fifteen years she wore gold crowns. When I had to go to the dentist again to install the crowns on the front teeth, the doctor said that gold is not in fashion now and there are more modern materials for prosthetics of the front teeth. Zirconium crowns were installed on the front teeth, which gave the teeth a natural look, and metal ceramics were fixed on the teeth that were not visible during the conversation. I have been using my new teeth for two years now. Dentures, as new, the color has not changed at all. The dentist promised that my new teeth will last me a very long time.

Video: “Zirconium prostheses. Computer modelling"