When it comes to restoring a damaged tooth, zirconia crowns are among the top choices for dentists throughout the world. This is because of the lifelike aesthetics and durability of zirconia. Since this is a relatively new material, many patients are curious regarding the composition and uses of zirconia crowns. This article explains everything you need to know about zirconia as a material for making dental crowns as well as its pros and cons.
Zirconia is a powdered white metal oxide of zirconium, which belongs to the titanium family. Therefore, zirconia possesses properties similar to titanium alloys. Just like most other crown materials, zirconia is also a ceramic material. However, zirconia crowns can be preferred over other types of ceramics for use inside the oral cavity because of their durability, chemical inertness and safety.
As discussed earlier, zirconia-based crowns possess several advantages of the current metal-ceramic or all-ceramic based crown materials, which make them one of the best choices for making dental crowns:
The most often used material for crowns are metal-ceramic crowns, that usually have a dark grey metal collar, or in cases where high strength is needed, the crown may even be a visible metal colour. Zirconia, being naturally white, offers a natural and aesthetically pleasant look to the crowns and other prostheses prepared from it. This is why zirconia crowns are the material of choice among dentists and patients when aesthetics and superior strength are required, especially when restoring the back teeth. Due to these features, teeth restored with zirconia crowns are virtually indistinguishable from the natural teeth.
Perhaps, the biggest advantage of zirconia crowns is that they can be prepared using the 3D printing and milling technology, which offers several benefits over the dental crowns prepared conventionally in the dental laboratory:
Zirconia is naturally opaque. Teeth that have become darkened by trauma, decay or after root canal treatment can be masked with zirconia to appear normal again after the crown. However, as it does not possess the translucency offered by ceramic crowns, zirconia crowns can be layered with translucent glass-ceramics to obtain the desired aesthetic outcome.
Zirconia is an extremely strong material and can withstand even the highest chewing forces generated inside the oral cavity. Unlike the metal-ceramic crowns, zirconia crowns are metal-free and do not require the placement of a metal layer beneath them.
Zirconia crowns can be directly bonded to the natural tooth structure, thereby improving the retention and also making it a good choice in cases whereby the tooth is very broken down.
Due to the high inherent strength of zirconia crowns, they can be prepared in thinner sections in comparison to the conventional ceramic or metal-ceramic crowns. This is advantageous as less of the tooth needs to be removed to fit the crown in. More conservation of the tooth is better as there is more strength, and to reduce the risk of tooth sensitivity.
Zirconia crowns are biocompatible and completely safe for use inside the oral cavity.
Despite the numerous benefits of the zirconia crowns, there are some disadvantages associated with this material as well:
At Dental Designs Clinic, we offer durable, aesthetically pleasant and natural-looking zirconia crowns to restore your teeth and to give you a charming and beautiful smile. With our technology, we are able to make these crowns with our in-house laboratory and can usually be issued on the same day.
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