Achieving the Desired Esthetic with Current CAD-CAM Ceramics
Abstract
Sareh Habibzadeh and Farshad Dehnavi
The demand for tooth-colored restorations has grown considerably during the last decades. Restoration of anterior teeth is a difficult task, even for an experienced operator. Color is the most important determinant of esthetics. The esthetic appearance of a restoration should match the surrounding dental tissue. This requires that the optical properties of the restorative material be similar to that of the natural teeth. Thus, for an acceptable esthetic result, favorable shade matching of the all-ceramic restoration should be achieved by controlling light absorption, reflection and transmission of the ceramic material. There are many different ceramic systems that can be used to achieve highly esthetic results. These ceramic systems include In-Ceram, Hi-Ceram, IPS-Empress, Optec, and CAD-CAM ceramics. All ceramic systems have different composition, microstructure, crystalline content and phases. Direct transmission, translucency, opacity and opalescence, all influence the optical properties of the ceramic restoration. Other factors include the thickness of porcelain, number of porcelain firing, glazing, porcelain powder/liquid ratio, surface texture and even the resin shade. This article focuses on controlling these variables to achieve the best possible esthetic result with an all ceramic system with the emphasis on CAD-CAM systems.