GC America CAD/CAM Blocks Enhance Dentist’s Digital Workflow

While new materials and technology have led to myriad improvements since he first began practicing dentistry in 1992, Jeff Horowitz, DMD, singles out two products he says have had a significant positive effect on his digital workflow: CERASMART^® 270 and GC Initial^® LiSi Block from GC America.

"As a dentist who performs many full-mouth/occlusal rehabilitations, I was looking for a milling solution that allowed for versatility in application-for crown, onlay, or implant restorations. Plus, the material needed to be durable yet forgiving as patients were adapting to their new occlusion," Horowitz says of his early experience with the original CERASMART hybrid block. "The resin matrix with nanoceramic filler allowed for just the right amount of flexibility to absorb and diffuse the often-unbalanced loads associated with a new occlusion. At the same time, the nanoceramic filler created a natural opalescence and gloss, and the milled margins were smooth with no detectible chipping. All of this was offered in a milled product that didn't require any firing or sintering."

CERASMART became Horowitz's material of choice for all onlay restorations and to place on posterior implant crowns as a "shock absorber for the rigid and often unforgiving nature of implant restorations," he says, adding that over the years he has not seen one single fracture of CERASMART in clinical practice. Now, he relies on CERASMART 270, which features a newly developed full-coverage silane coating with improved nanofiller technology for superior flexural characteristics. "CERASMART 270 offers reliability and durability in a hybrid block that looks like a ceramic."

GC Initial LiSi Block is a milled lithium-disilicate block that "is strong enough to place in the mouth without the need for a secondary crystallization step," Horowitz says. He explains that GC Initial LiSi Blocks are fully crystallized when they go in the milling machine, which is great for color matching, yet they are gentle enough on the milling instruments while still offering incredible clinical strength. GC makes this possible through a technology called High Density Micronization, "which basically means that smaller crystals are easier on milling instruments, but when they are densely aggregated, they provide formidable strength and edge stability."

"Lithium disilicate makes for highly esthetic bondable restorations. The clear advantage to GC Initial LiSi Block is that it allows dentists to prep, mill, and seat lithium-disilicate restorations in less than an hour," Horowitz says. "Milled in a fully crystallized form, there is no firing required after the block is milled. It is literally minutes from milling machine to the mouth after a two-step ceramic polishing process, acid prep, and silanation. This amounts to a huge time-savings."

Horowitz credits GC America for its extensive research efforts on resin, hybrid, and ceramic technologies. "The company's innovative approach to improve characteristics of current materials has led to game-changing products like CERASMART 270 and GC Initial LiSi Block."

Jeff Horowitz, DMD
Private Practice, Conway, South Carolina; Fellow, Academy of General Dentistry

GC America
800-323-7063
gcamerica.com