This category includes the incredibly popular e.max CAD material from Ivoclar Vivadent, the original material in this category. Yes indeed, what about those materials in the middle? We often refer to this category of materials in the middle (good translucency, good strength) as "High Strength Glass Ceramics" or HSGC. Materials on the right may be cemented.Īnd what of the materials in the middle? Keep reading on. In general materials on the left need to be adhesively placed. For this reason, we need to be aware of our choices in the posterior particuarly. Additionally, some preparations are exceptionally hard to isolate making the adhesive technique even more challenging. As we know, the adhesive technique is not only more expensive, but the technique itself requires more steps and more concentration from the dentist. The adhesive technique is required for materials in the upper left while materials in the bottom right may be cemented. Okay, so we know where our materials fall on the translucency/strength spectrum, let's now look at another important property of dental materials: whether they must be adhesively bonded or traditionally cemented. (Empress CAD, VITA Mark II, etc.) are in the upper left: highly esthetic, low strength and the Zirconia materials (Katana, Zircad, etc.)Īre positioned in the lower right: low translucency and high strength. You will notice all the highly esthetic materials The most common CEREC materials positioned in the translucency/strength trade off.
Now let's look where the most common CEREC materials are positioned in this trade off: Point B represents a material which is low in translucency but high in strength. Point A represents a material which is high in translucency and low in strength. Let's look a little closer at this trade off between translucency and strength: Likewise, the strongest materials are some of the ugliest materials in dentistry, but that too is changing in recent years with zirconia's becoming ever more esthetic. Feldspathic materials are extremely esthetic, but are not well suited for posterior cases. That's why all those feldspathic veneers placed years ago still look gorgeous today. Basically, the more translucent a material is, the weaker it is. There is a trade off with dental materials between strength and translucency. We know because we get asked all the time! So here we present an overview of the most commonly used CEREC materials as well as when and where they should be used.īut first of all, we need to get something straight about dental materials. If you are relatively new to CAD/CAM, you might find the variety of materials overwhelming at first. Choice is good right? Well, sometimes with all that choice comes uncertainty and confusion. With approximately 50 different blocks to choose from, CEREC has by far the most material options for dentists using CAD/CAM today.