What is the difference between zirconium and zirconium dental restorations?
This high-quality result consists of three parts:
1️⃣ STANDARD OF CARE IN MEDICAL AND DENTAL TECHNOLOGY.
After many successive stages of work, a dental prosthesis is “complete.” The same work phase (e.g., crown preparation, taking impressions, bite registration, etc.) can be performed using both simpler and more complex methods—including under a microscope.
The cost difference between two bite-registration methods, for example, can be as much as tenfold: all the patient sees at that moment is that the bite registration involves several “unusual” steps…Its true benefits become apparent in the long-term comfort of the finished dental prosthesis and in chewing efficiency (even years later).
More precise methods are generally slower (in terms of working time!) and require more expensive materials and/or advanced technology. This has a direct impact on the final result: durability, aesthetics, and comfort.
2️⃣ High-Quality RAW MATERIAL. In my experience, many dentists—and, unfortunately, dental technicians as well—have no idea exactly what kind of zirconia dental restorations they’re placing in their patients“ mouths. They have absolutely no idea what the key parameters are—aside from the price—for a given, often ”no-name” brand. The material properties determine the situations for which it’s best suited, as well as its behavior, durability, and aesthetics. We use only four types of zirconia, three of which are from ZirkonZahné, and one is Procera. Here are the four parameters that are important to us:
• Flexural strength
• Shrinkage and deformation (m) values during ceramic firing (sintering)
• material composition
• transparency (m) value
These parameters are similar to those for cars: the warranty, service intervals, horsepower, acceleration, fuel economy, curb weight, other technical details, trunk size, and price. We buy a car based on all of these factors, plus our personal preferences.
Here at the Halász Clinic, price is the least important factor to us! We’ve chosen to use only premium dental restoration technologies and materials, so we only create restorations that (and this is our order of priority):
1. Expected to be the most durable
2. They offer the most versatile solutions
3. They can be easily and inexpensively modified or repaired later on, or even years or decades later if any problems arise
4. They are aesthetically pleasing
3️⃣ MACHINES, TECHNOLOGY. To get the most out of a given material (e.g., the highest possible flexural strength—so your zirconia dental restoration is least likely to break), you must adhere as precisely as possible to the specific technological steps and the parameter settings of the physicochemical processes (e.g., heat, pressure, and time profiles) developed for that particular product. Production lines featuring closed-loop technological processes developed for specific products extract the maximum potential from the material with the greatest precision… but this makes production more expensive.
But what's the ultimate goal⁉️ Should the final product be as good as possible, or as cheap as possible⁉️
