Every time I peruse a trade journal or open my email these days, I'm astounded by the flood of new zirconia products entering the market, many from companies previously unseen in the dental realm or any other field. While these products may hold promise, they lack the extensive experience that comes from a company entrenched in dentistry for over a century. This experience is invaluable in discerning what best serves patients and facilitates the work of Dental Technicians.

I also often hear of labs and clinicians seeking the least expensive products to maximize profit margins. While understandable, prioritizing material cost over manual labor can prove counterproductive, thus, it's prudent to opt for materials that streamline the restoration process, reducing hands-on time.

Enter the IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime and IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime Esthetic product line, poised to revolutionize workflows in dental labs. IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime and IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime Esthetic offer two versatile zirconia products capable of addressing various restorative needs efficiently. However, awareness about these products remains limited, accompanied by several common queries. Let's delve into these questions to shed light on these innovations.

Innovative Filling Technology ensures a seamless transition in translucency throughout the disc, enhancing esthetics. The less translucent material (3Y/4Y) begins to fill the mold and continues through a determined level when the more translucent material (5Y) is slowly added. This process continues, slowly reducing the amount of 3Y/4Y material and increasing the amount of 5Y material that is being added, until the last 3mm of the disc is pure 5Y material. 

High-Quality Manufacturing finishes once the molds are filled and they undergo pressing to condense them to final thickness. This may involve a single-stage (uniaxial) pressing or a subsequent Cold Isostatic Pressing (CIP). Uniaxial Pressing is standard, compressing the filled mold from the top. Effective for single zirconia types like 3Y/4Y/5Y, it suits longer sintering cycles, allowing larger pores to close during sintering. With IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime and IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime Esthetic, CIP follows. The pressed disc is sealed in a silicone mold, placed in a large vat of liquid, and subjected to high pressure (>14,000 psi). This further condenses the material, shrinking pores for faster sintering—single crowns in 2.5hrs, bridges up to 3-units in 4.5hrs. This allows flexibility for varying lab processes. 

IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime serves as a versatile option for various applications, from single copings to full-arch appliances. Its composition, including 3Y zirconia in the body area, provides sufficient masking ability to accommodate darker preps or Ti-bases. Its 1200MPa flexural strength makes it ideal for demanding scenarios like cantilever bridges or up to two connected pontics.If the lab has a mill that only holds one disc at a time, they may want to be able to mill both a full contour restoration and a coping out of the same shade after they go home at night. That way they can be ahead in the morning and not have to change out the disc to mill the other restoration.

IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime Esthetic caters to the most common restorations produced, particularly full-contour 3-unit bridges and smaller. With enhanced translucency in the body (4Y zirconia), it seamlessly blends with natural dentition, reducing the need for layering ceramic and reducing manual labor.

With IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime and IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime Esthetic, Ivoclar has utilized "Intelligent Disc Design." Intelligent Disc Design is a simple concept. No matter the thickness of the disc, whether 14mm or 25mm or anywhere in between, the Incisal and Transition zones of the disc are always the same, 3mm Incisal and 4mm Transition. That means no matter the disc size (or material) you always nest the same. For the most consistent match to the shade guide it is recommended to nest anterior restorations 1.5-2mm and posterior restorations 2-2.5mm from the top of the disc (Fig. B). 

The second thing that is important to get consistent shade and translucency is to properly maintain your sintering furnace. This means regular calibration to ensure you are hitting the proper temperatures. However, because furnaces from various manufacturers are a little different, you may also have to do test runs to determine the high temp you need for consistency. If your restorations are coming out too opaque and dark, your temperature is too low.  Conversely, if the body is too translucent and too light, your temperature is too high (Fig. C). The one time that this is not true, is when you look at the incisal area (5Y) of the restoration.  When the 5Y zirconia is fired too high it will make the material more opaque (due to increased defects between the crystal boundaries). When adjusting your temperatures, it is recommended to adjust 10C (18F) at a time until the desired result is achieved.

[Image below: Figure C]

But we can also increase that strength with proper finishing and polishing of the material. If you properly smooth and polish the underside of the connector areas of your bridges and large restorations, you will remove small defects in the surface of the material and can almost double the Flexural strength of the material in the area that receives the highest tensile stress (Fig. E). 

[Image below: Figure E]

In essence, understanding the capabilities of IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime and IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime Esthetic empowers dental labs to produce robust, esthetically pleasing, and financially rewarding restorations. These innovations not only elevate patient care but also contribute to the enduring mission of Making People Smile.