Putting a new generation of all-ceramic materials to the test

Piazza del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno is considered one of the most beautiful city squares in central Italy. It is only a five-minute walk from the city’s beautiful travertine town centre to get to the dental studio of two members of the Narducci family. Here, dental technician Gennaro Narducci and his son and dentist Federico Narducci have set up a dental centre that is dedicated to digital dentistry and equipped accordingly with CAD/CAM, DVT imaging technology and much more.

Like in many other dental labs and practices, a large share of the all-ceramic restorations is made from zirconium oxide in the studio of the Narduccis. They have closely watched the efforts of manufacturers to develop zirconia materials that feature improved translucent properties and they noticed:

“So far, an increase in translucency has always meant a decrease in strength. Building up blanks in different layers of shades presents an interesting approach, but ultimately does not correspond to the structure of the natural tooth. With the introduction of IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime in Italy, we asked ourselves whether the development of this material would provide a solution to the drawbacks of past. According to the manufacturer, this material combines high strength with the high esthetic properties expected from high-quality ceramic materials. So we wanted to carry out a field test to see if IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime delivers what it promises. Since single tooth crowns and three-unit bridges make up the lion’s share of our dental prosthetic work, we planned to test the new material in each of these two indications.”