Zirconia vs. Porcelain Crowns?
The new techniques and materials available for treatments with fixed porcelain dental prostheses can deliver aesthetic results close to those seen in ceramic laminates, the technique used by artists and celebrities for impactful transformation of the smile. And among them, the dental prosthesis in zirconia appears as an efficient and versatile alternative – and even with a lower price than other traditional restoration techniques.
The zirconia dental prosthesis is a more aesthetic and durable version of the metal-ceramic technique , the traditional version whose limited aesthetic results and problems such as darkening of the gums brings its only advantage in terms of price. Among the advantages of the zirconia technique is its versatility for use in pivots and fixed crowns, bridges, on natural teeth, or dental implants in procedures with fixed dentures. Dental prosthesis in zirconia, in the bridge technique, is ideal for replacing treatments with osseointegrated (integrated into the jawbone) implants.
Differences between zirconia dental prosthesis and porcelain dental prosthesis
The differences between zirconia dental prosthesis and porcelain dental prosthesis are easy to understand and give an exact idea of the advantages and disadvantages between the techniques.
Before we begin to understand these differences, it is necessary to know that the dentist uses, in fact, two different techniques of dental prosthesis in zirconia. The most used is the one that brings zirconia located only in the internal parts and in direct contact with teeth and dental implants. In this, the function of the material is to provide resistance to fractures to the porcelain that covers the entire aesthetic and visible part of the dental prosthesis.
The other technique is known as pure zirconia dental prosthesis and has much more restricted use. Its main feature, the absence of an esthetic porcelain covering, considerably reduces the esthetic results, which can be seen in its limited use for posterior teeth (molars and premolars).
In turn, the traditional fixed dental prosthesis in porcelain also presents two different techniques. The most used, with only reasonable aesthetic results, has a reinforcing metal alloy located on the inside of the veneering porcelain. In turn, the all-porcelain technique eliminates reinforcement structures, delivering the most striking and natural aesthetic results among the currently available prosthetic devices.
Indications
The zirconia technique is one of the stars of smile transformation procedures. Indicated even for combined treatments with dental contact lenses and porcelain veneers – two of the main techniques with laminated dental veneers, it brings extra resources to the dentist specialized in dental prosthesis to recover, for example, the aesthetics of anterior teeth darkened after treatment channels or that have metallic pins.
Some of the advantages for zirconia dental prosthesis for treatments with pivots and crowns, fixed bridges (a technique to recover up to two lost teeth without the use of dental implants) or protocol-type fixed dentures:
* avoid graying of dental prostheses installed on metallic pins or teeth darkened by canal;
* ultra aesthetic alternative to dental implants in the fixed bridge technique;
* eliminate metal structures from fixed porcelain dentures on osseointegrated implants;
* eliminate metal fins from adhesive dental prostheses;
* Alternative to traditional porcelain at a lower price.
