Dentsply Sirona’s New Fast-Processing CEREC Tessera Blocks Feature Optimal Esthetics, Strength

CEREC Tessera blocks, just introduced by Dentsply Sirona, are an advanced lithium disilicate ceramic for the CEREC workflow designed to accelerate the entire manufacturing process by shortening the glaze firing time–a crown can be fired in the CEREC SpeedFire in just 4 minutes and 30 seconds.

High-strength glass ceramics are frequently used by dentists when fabricating a restoration in large part to their esthetics as patients often want restorations looking nearly identical to their natural teeth. Lithium disilicates play an important role in this group of materials with results that are convincing in all regions of the mouth and because they can be used for CAD/CAM-fabricated restorations, i.e. in CEREC Primemill.

The blocks feature advanced material properties due to optimized microstructure, and one key benefit is the rapid firing. Compared to other glass ceramics, this represents a time savings in the entire manufacturing process (grinding and firing).

Dentsply Sirona’s CEREC Tessera Blocks feature high esthetics and strength.

The fast firing time is mainly made possible by the special and new composition of the ceramic made of lithium disilicate and virgilite, a lithium aluminum silicate, according to Dentsply Sirona. Tessera blocks are composed of a new material containing virgilite. During the firing process, new virgilite crystals are formed and embedded in a zirconia enriched glass matrix. Together, these material constituents combine to create a robustly reinforced, high-density restorative material. The dense interwoven crystal composition of CEREC Tessera blocks is key to their high strength and helps suppress the presence of microcracks and subsequent crack propagation.

The same microcrystal composition (lithium disilicate and virgilite) of CEREC Tessera blocks that is responsible for the material’s high biaxial and flexural strength also contributes to its highly esthetic and dynamic light refraction, transmission, and absorptive properties that mimic the visual vitality of natural dentition.

The high-strength nature of the blocks further provide clinical benefits via low minimal wall thickness preparation guidelines and the ability to use conventional cementation. All CEREC Tessera restorations can be fixed adhesively (for example with Dentsply Sirona’s Prime&Bond and Calibra Ceram). Restorations with a wall thickness of 1.5 mm can also be conventionally cemented with a glass ionomer or hybrid glass ionomers, such as the company’s Calibra Bio cement.

“The extremely fast matrix firing cycle is unlike anything we have seen. The time savings are tangible and really the whole process is just simple, yet the result is a robust restorative material,” says Dr. Andrew Hall, a general dentist from Colorado Springs, Colorado, who works with Dentsply Sirona.

CEREC Tessera blocks are now available in the United States and are indicated for fully anatomical single-tooth restorations in the anterior and posterior regions, including crowns, inlays, onlays, and veneers. For more information, go to dentsplysirona.com/en/explore/restorative/cerec-tessera.html.