There have been many innovations in dentistry especially in the last decade. Years ago about our only option was a gold crown. Over time this morphed into porcelain fused to metal dental crowns (PFM). Today, there are a number of very strong non-metal substructures that can be used to fabricate a dental crown. The author describes two of the new non-metal alternatives to traditional porcelain fused to metal crowns.
One material to use is Lava Zirconia from 3M ESPE. This is a digitally produced zirconia restoration that provides strength and natural aesthetics. The research and application of this material is over 25 years even though this material has only been recently introduced into the dental market. The shading system is available in 8 shades and improves the optical characteristics to make this material look better than porcelain fused to metal crowns.
Another material used in dentistry and can be used for dental implants, as well as natural teeth is Procera This material made by Nobel Biocare. Procera is an all-ceramic zirconia that increases flexure strength of around 1200 MPa. It can be made as thin as 0.7 mm and up to 0.4mm thickness in the aesthetic zone. This ability to make this material exceedingly thin improves our ability to make the dental crown more esthetic. Do these new materials spell the end to the traditional Porcelain fused to metal (PFM) restoration? Absolutely not! There are still instances where the PFM is appropriate and even preferred. Teeth with root canals and large metal posts need the ability to block out the underlying metal and the PFM will accomplish this task quite nicely.
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