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Over the past several years, dentists have been driven to provide more esthetic and desirable anterior full or partially covered anterior restorations to meet the desires of our patients. This is especially true for the multi-unit anterior or posterior bridge. The problem has always been to achieve both strength and esthetics. The porcelain-fused-to-metal crown certainly provides durability with some reasonable esthetics for crowns. And you would not consider anything but a PFM bridge, be it posterior or anterior. However, with the increasing esthetic demands of our patients, even the best PFM crowns and bridges appear too bulky and opaque. And no matter how well they are fabricated, it is only a matter of time before some metal starts to show, and in the anterior this is completely unacceptable.

To alleviate this problem, new materials were provided and laboratory techniques developed to produce an all-ceramic single restoration that was highly esthetic. In fact, the esthetics they were using created restorations that were indistinguishable from natural teeth. Thus, the challenge now is to fabricate an esthetic but durable all-ceramic that has wear characteristics favorable to the opposing dentition, and is available for anterior or posterior  multi-unit bridges.

New Technologies, New Materials

The fabrication of all-ceramic, esthetic, and durable anterior crowns and bridges is made possible through the combination of new technology and new materials. The new technology is CAD/CAM, computer aided design/computer aided manufacturing. It fabricates an all-ceramic (Zirconia) framework that is not only very thin, light, and durable, but also available in various tooth color shades that improve the life-like esthetics of the final restoration.


One of the newer materials, Zirconia (ZRO2)—an oxidized form of the Zirconium metal—is able to resist high-stress areas internally, such as sharp line angles in the tooth preparation, grinding damage during internal adjustment, and stresses generated by chewing or thermal changes in the mouth. In addition, transformation-toughening gives Zirconia excellent mechanical properties: high flexural strength—900 Mpa to 1.2 Gpa—and toughness—7–8 MP.M a –0.5


You'll want to look at it again and again.

When we talk to each other, our gaze falls often on the mouth. In this, we naturally focus particularly on the teeth and paying increasing attention to their appearance. In daily contact with people, flirting in private or presenting yourself for a new job, beautiful teeth play a big part in helping you look great. With 3D CAD-CAM designed Zirconium smart ceramics, all restorations can be shaped so naturally that they cannot be distinguished from your real teeth.  With the 3D designed Zirconium smart ceramics, our new high-tech all-ceramic material, this wish can now be fulfilled. Zirconium smart ceramics offers extremely natural aesthetics paired with excellent biocompatibility.

3D CAD-CAM designed zirconia porcelain crowns and bridges.

In the past, the traditional methods for making crowns and bridges involved a series of dental appointments and final fabrication of the restoration by a dental laboratory. Today CAD/CAM allows a Houston cosmetic dentist to custom-fabricate any of these in the office and cement them in place - all in a single appointment.

The first step in using dental CAD/CAM is tooth preparation. The second step involves taking an impression, not by pressing a soft material over the tooth, but by taking a picture with a special camera that sends the prepared tooth's exact dimensions into a computer.
The cosmetic dental restoration is next designed with the aid of a computer, and then your Houston cosmetic dentist selects a material that is colored to match your specific tooth. The material is then placed into a miniature milling machine. In just a few minutes it produces a precise, custom-fitting cosmetic dental restoration.
Finally, the new cosmetic dental restoration is test-fitted, color adjusted, and bonded in place. After your bite and fit are checked, you'll have a new, CAD/CAM cosmetic dental restoration - in just one appointment