Zirconia is a very hard ceramic that is used as a strong base material in some full ceramic restorations. The zirconia substructure (core) is usually designed on a digital representation of the patient mouth, which is captured with a 3d digital scan of the patient impression, or model. The core is then milled from a block zirconia in a soft pre-sintered state.
The zirconia core structure can be layered with aesthetic feldspathic porcelain to create the final color and shape of the tooth. Because bond strength of layered porcelain fused to zirconia is not strong ‘’monolithic’’ zirconia crowns are often made entirely of the zirconia ceramic in industry and the strongest material used in industry. Monolithic zirconia crowns tend to be opaque in appearance with a high value and they lack translucency. For aesthetic reasons. Many dentists will not use monolithic crowns on anterior(front) teeth.
