IPS e.max CAD Abutments Among New Innovations from Ivoclar Vivadent
Dentistry was forever changed when Ivoclar Vivadent introduced its innovative IPS e.max® lithium-disilicate glass ceramic system nearly 10 years ago. To date, the material has demonstrated a 98.2% survival rate with over 40 million restorations placed, according to the company.
Donald E. Bell, Director of Marketing – CAD/CAM at Ivoclar Vivadent NA, credits the unprecedented success of this material to its ability to provide excellent esthetics as well as the durability and long-term clinical success that has made it the primary choice of dental professionals worldwide.
Unlike any other CAD/CAM material, Bell says, IPS e.max CAD covers a comprehensive spectrum of indications, offering a wide range of translucency levels, shades, and block sizes and coordinated cements to ensure clinical performance and esthetic success. He says the company’s CAD/CAM division continues to focus on innovation, expanding the line of e.max solutions and products that complement it—including Multilink® Automix cement—to treat different indications to ensure maximum flexibility in the digital working process. He describes three types of solutions in keeping with that goal.
CAD Monolithic Restorations—According to Bell, IPS e.max CAD has been used to create high-strength (360 MPa) full-contour restorations for nearly 10 years, with success rates comparable to that of metal ceramics. It is now used for single-unit restorations for all indications—anterior and posterior, including inlays, onlays, veneers, and thin veneers (0.3 mm). Additionally, three-unit bridges can now be milled chairside, using two additional block sizes: C 16 to create large single-tooth restorations; and B 32 for three-units.
“IPS e.max CAD monolithic solutions streamline the fabrication of full-contour restorations that demonstrate high strength, durability, and proven clinical properties,” Bell asserts. He says high esthetic standards are fulfilled due to the different levels of translucency of the shades. “Individual characteristics can be added using the staining or cut-back technique,” he notes.
CAD-on Veneering Solutions—CAD/CAM–manufactured veneer structures for zirconium-oxide frameworks combine lithium disilicate (LS2) and zirconium oxide (ZrO2), and, Bell maintains, are designed to create tooth- and implant-supported bridge restorations (CAD-on) of exceptional strength and esthetics. He says the manual workload typically required by bridges can be considerably reduced when the veneer and the framework are both manufactured in a digital CAD/CAM–based process.
Abutment Solutions—Bell says Ivoclar’s new abutment solutions enable dentists to provide customized CAD/CAM hybrid restorations for implants for single-tooth restorations in the anterior and posterior region. “Our CAD abutment solutions are designed for the fabrication of implant-supported hybrid structures for single units using CAD/CAM technology,” he explains. They include the hybrid abutment and the CAD hybrid abutment crown.
The hybrid abutment is an individually milled, tooth-colored, lithium-disilicate abutment luted to the titanium (Ti) base. “The shape, emergence profile, and esthetic properties of this abutment can be ideally adjusted to the clinical situation. Its natural-looking color and the individual characteristics in the root and transition area to the crown produce an esthetic overall appearance,” says Bell. “Since the abutment margin of the crown is at gingiva level, excess cement can be easily removed,” he adds.
Bell describes the IPS e.max CAD hybrid abutment crown—which is an abutment and monolithic crown in one—as “an economically attractive alternative to conventional implant-supported restorations, particularly for the posterior region, where strength, durability, and convenient clinical handling matter.” This solution, he suggests, offers an efficient route to fabricating strong and esthetic restorations.
These newest introductions reflect Ivoclar’s continued commitment to innovation, Bell says, particularly in the CAD/CAM segment of the dental market. “Ivoclar Vivadent has a tradition of producing restorative materials that create beautiful smiles. IPS e.max CAD offers a wide range of shades, sizes, and translucencies to allow the dental professional to provide beautiful esthetics and has the durability to ensure clinical success for all indications.”
Ivoclar Vivadent
175 Pineview Dr
Amherst, NY 14228
800-533-6825
dentalaegis.com/go/cced555
