Lab Materials

Technology keeps moving and changing with noticeably different and better results. In the author’s career, he has been fortunate enough to be involved with several full-mouth restoration cases.

In our most recent feature for Dental Lab Products, we talked a lot about esthetics. As part of that article, we asked the same experts we spoke with in the story what tips they'd give to lab technicians looking to increase the esthetics of their work in a modern context.

Several authors over the years have written about the benefits of using processed baseplates as the surest way to present a stable, retentive platform on which to take bite registration records and set denture teeth on for try-in evaluation. Other benefits include providing the exact fit to be expected prior to the finish of the case, and providing a treatment tool to help clinicians illustrate the deficiency or success of treatment expectation to their patient.

Our patient case study is a female, late 20s, with an anterior implant on tooth No. 10, who wanted her case taken care of as soon as possible due to her upcoming wedding.

In this case study, a 70-year-old individual with advanced periodontally involved teeth having class three mobility presented for comprehensive implant restorations.

As more and more dentists begin to implement digital scanning technology in the office, laboratories stand to reap the benefits of this conversion as well.

Through experience and knowledge, it is a dental technician’s duty to foresee the final outcome from an esthetic standpoint when a less than ideal situation is presented.

One Shot Uni-Layer HT has the potential to increase your laboratory’s productivity exponentially by speeding up your initial buildup to just minutes, all while producing an ideally natural-looking restoration.

This case involves a 55-year-old male who presented extreme dental fear with resulting dental neglect. His last visit to a dental professional had been 25-plus years prior. Due to the intense anxiety experienced by the patient involving dental procedures, he severely neglected his dentition (Fig. 1). The patient was referred to me for evaluation of pain in the maxillary anterior area. Because of continued neglect due to fear and avoidance, this treatment required extensive dental procedures.

Value is key in imitating the natural tooth to achieve a lifelike result. In esthetic anterior restorations, the dental technician is ideally involved right from the beginning-even more so, if a diagnostic wax-up, or mock-up, is required to visualize the treatment outcome. However, some situations in everyday practice may make it impossible for the dental technician to be part of the treatment at an early stage and such a case is described in the report below.

Roy Dental Lab is a full service lab located in New Albany, Ind., just across the river from Louisville, Ky. The lab is family owned, and was started in 1972. The lab has 11 full-time dental technicians, and 13 total full-time employees.

The first thing you hear of from some colleagues is usually: Why should I press when I’m much faster with the layering technique?

Though the last few years have seen a significant rise in monolithic restorations made out of materials like zirconia and lithium disilicate, there are plenty of labs that still specialize in PFM restorations-and have the esthetic results to make that choice a viable one.

In discussing cosmetic cases, a dentist must give special consideration to those that are conducted over long distances. The particular situation we are looking at involves a patient who resides in Florida but used to live in Illinois.

For quite some time, we have been hearing about minimally invasive techniques for the esthetic rehabilitation of the oral cavity. Whether a patient wishes to have stains removed, teeth bleached or the tooth shape and general appearance improved, the range of treatment options is almost unlimited.

Dentists and labs looking to deliver durable, esthetic indirect restorations have plenty of options. One such option is to work with Zirlux to deliver highly esthetic, full-contour restorations.

Chuck Tagliarino, CDT, is the Technical Vice President of Operations at Sun Dental Labs, located in Clearwater, Fla. He oversees the technical information, equipment design and materials for Sun Dental Labs.

The Lab Precision Dental Arts is a dental laboratory located just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Specializing in fixed prosthetics, the two-man lab has been in operation since 1997 and mostly works with all-ceramics and implants.

Alloys are and will continue to be the gold standard when it comes to providing artistic, esthetically pleasing and lasting restorations to clinicians and their patients, according to a group of experts. While on the surface it may seem alloys have remained the same over time, new technology, engineering and blending of metals have brought about significant changes and improvements.

1. You were one of the people who helped Shofu with their decision to bring Veracia denture material and OneShot Uni-layer porcelain to the U.S. What was it about Veracia SA that made you say “yes, this is great for the U.S. lab market”?

Regardless of price, many patients are looking for answers to their esthetic needs. They know technology will allow them even better results than ever before.

In this video sneak peek from the upcoming issue of Dental Lab Product magazine, Dwain Turner, owner of Turner Dental Lab in Texas, describes how he's incorporated the anaxFORM system and Acryline denture material (both from Anaxform) into his workflow, and how those products have improved his efficiency and provided new, cost-effective solutions.

Dental technology is moving at a very fast pace and products are changing all the time. Convenience is key, and in this current economic situation, we all want to be more efficient with our materials to cut down on our overall costs. Everyone is searching for ways to save time but still achieve the best possible results. The following procedure shows how one porcelain powder can be used to achieve outstanding results. This system is very simple to master and easy to work with. Case Study

Don’t let its lack of sophistication fool you into believing this product has no value. That should be the “tag line” for a pair of products I stumbled across last year and started using in my removable prosthetic laboratory shortly afterward.

  New dentists looking for a chance to network and learn from their peers should plan to attend the ADA New Dentist Committee as it hosts the 26th New Dentist Conference June 22-24, in Washington, D.C.  

There are several different color choices for creating a treatment plan wax-up. Most lab technicians use white solid, clear or gray wax, finding this to be acceptable. It’s a standard operating procedure because the results are predictable, the material easy to work with.

Our patient, a female in her mid-30s, is the sister of a dental hygienist. Because of this close relationship, there were two people carefully inspecting her dental work, one with plenty of knowledge about the field.

There are a lot of factors that go into matching color for the posterior teeth. Harmony is sometimes difficult to achieve because patients often have amalgam fillings in these teeth, which will generate a blue tint to the enamel. We need to first understand natural teeth color and then see a proper preparation reduction margin design to create a matching restoration for the molars. We also have to look at the occlusal surface of the adjacent teeth. This article will detail a case for one of my own clients, a periodontist, who trusted me with his work.

Many labs are involved in a digital workflow in one way or another. Those involved most likely agree that digital is undoubtedly the future of our industry. From hardware such as scanners and mills in our labs, to the digital acquisition of impressions from chairside scanners in dental practices, we are transitioning away from the old school and experiencing the advantages these technologies offer.

We sometimes struggle to match a patient’s tissue color. The tough connective gingiva, which lines the base of the teeth, is part of the lining of the mouth. Not only does it surround the teeth, it also produces a seal. Unlike the soft tissue linings of the lips and cheeks, most of this gingiva is tightly bound to the underlying bone, which aids in resistance of the chafing of food as it’s chewed.