BISCO Products Bring Simplicity to Zirconia Bonding

Coming from a family with numerous dentists in it, Nate Lawson, DMD, PhD, always knew he, too, wanted to go into dentistry. By 2004 he was doing research in a dental materials lab as a college engineering student before going on to complete a combined DMD/PhD program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry. After a brief stint in private practice, he eventually found his way back to UAB dental school as a faculty member in the Biomaterials Division, and with the aid of "some great mentoring" became director of that division and its residency program.

"I now spend my time evaluating new dental products in our laboratory and using them in my faculty practice as a general dentist."

Lawson's research primarily centers on dental materials and techniques for bonding to ceramics, while his clinical practice also focuses on adhesive dentistry. His interest in bonding to zirconia led him to BISCO's Z-Prime^™ Plus, a single-component priming agent that enhances bond strengths to zirconia, alumina, and metal substrates, and ZirClean^®, a product designed for non-abrasive cleaning of the bonding surfaces of zirconia, ceramic, and metal restorations after intraoral try-in. Both products, he says, are used in workflows to bond zirconia.

Lawson illustrates Z-Prime Plus's effectiveness: "Z-Prime was my introduction to MDP-containing zirconia primers. It was the primer I used when conducting my first bond strength tests to zirconia. I remember using Z-Prime Plus to test the bond between zirconia resin-bonded bridges and enamel preparations. Rather than debonding, the tooth would rip in half before separating from the zirconia."

ZirClean, Lawson notes, was introduced later as a zirconia cleaning product. "Bond strength testing done in our lab has verified ZirClean's effectiveness in removing contamination caused by saliva."

Z-Prime Plus, according to the manufacturer, attains its high bond strengths to zirconia, alumina, and metal substrates due to its unique combination of two active monomers: MDP, a phosphate monomer, and BPDM, a carboxylate monomer.

"I bond zirconia crowns when my preparations have non-ideal retention-most frequently short molars, but also over-tapered preparations, which may happen for a posterior bridge," Lawson explains. "I also bond zirconia for anterior resin-bonded bridges, most commonly for missing lateral incisors. I have also had a few instances of bonding a zirconia onlay."

In the realm of sometimes confusing bonding-to-zirconia protocols, these two BISCO products offer simplicity, Lawson suggests. "Their names tell you what they do and the two steps required to bond to zirconia: ZirClean is a ‘cleaner' for zirconia, and Z-Prime Plus is a ‘primer' for zirconia." He concludes: "Zirconia bonding is a tool for clinicians to apply the conservativeness of adhesive dentistry preparations when the increased strength of zirconia is required."

Nate Lawson,
DMD, PhD
Director, Division of Biomaterials, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry

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