While the ceramic veneering made by dental technicians represents an enormous amount of work, requires specialists and additional material costs, a zirconia restoration is also harmoniously integrated into the smile of patients. Not with the same finesse of a ceramic artist, of course - who excels at imitating nature – but, according to the current development of this material, still far better than a metal surface.

In current times, when there is a lack of skilled workers everywhere, it is a very good alternative.

Let's first take a look at the right corner of our ring and deal with the aesthetic aspects of zirconia restorations:

Zirconia has a natural look due to its own translucency. In the meantime, the development of this material has progressed so far that the color comes close to the natural tooth color without ceramic veneering and only with little effort in reworking.

In the case of a restoration with translucent zirconia, however, it should be noted that if the die to be crowned is discolored, this circumstance has a negative impact on the desired result and leads to a greyish effect.

At this point we distinguish between full zirconia crowns and zirconia copings to be veneered. In esthetically challenging areas, such as the front teeth, veneered copings should be used. The full zirconia crown for the posterior area is a cheap alternative among the possibilities of dentures, especially when patients do not want to use a metal crown. But a ceramic veneering made by dental technicians cannot replace anything in terms of aesthetics.

Another plus point for the aesthetics of zirconia is that when the gums recede, no metallic edge appears. In addition, unsightly metal bites can be dispensed with in very difficult space conditions - here only the zirconia areas shine through and they can be improved by additional shading.

How about the aesthetics of metal-ceramic restorations:

With ideal space conditions, this type of restoration achieves a very natural result. However, in practice it is often different than desired, because in the rarest of cases the space conditions are ideal. As a result, the lack of layer thickness and the incidence of light may cause the metal core to shimmer darkly. From an aesthetic point of view, the treatment will then unfortunately not satisfy the patient.

In addition to the metallic framework or the dark die shining through, receding gums are also an issue. If the gums recede slightly, the dark crown edge of the metal framework becomes visible in metal frameworks. This problem does not exist with zirconia crowns.

Zirconia does not contain any substances that are toxic to humans. This material is therefore harmless, even if something should come loose from the chemical compound. In addition, according to the current state of research, it has no allergic potential.

Unlike many metals, zirconia has high chemical stability. It reacts neither in the oral environment nor in the bone or soft tissue environment.

In summary, this means that zirconia is a material with high biocompatibility.

Metal-ceramic restorations can also show a high degree of biocompatibility. It depends on which metal (cobalt-chromium (CoCr), titanium, gold) is used.

You can read more about biocompatible materials in the article: “The Big 3 of biocompatible materials in dental technology”.

Due to the nature of the material, greater edge and wall thicknesses must be observed for zirconia restorations. The space requirement is therefore higher than with metal-ceramic solutions.

In addition, when planning patient work, it should be considered that dental prostheses made of zirconia - in contrast to those made of metal - cannot be expanded.

The bending elasticity is also a lot higher with metal frameworks, which is why metal-ceramic bridges rarely break.

Although monolithic frameworks made of zirconia break more easily than metal-ceramic frameworks, since there is no ceramic veneer, they cannot flake off in the patient's mouth either.

In addition, zirconia is a poor conductor of temperature. The risk of complaints due to food that is too warm or too cold is therefore minimized.

Both variants of dentures have a high level of biocompatibility, i.e. good tissue compatibility with bone and soft tissue (gums). The high biocompatibility of both materials is also reflected in good corrosion resistance.

Zirconia impresses as a material for dentures with a natural look due to its translucency. Additional plus points are the protection of the antagonist, the absence of metal in the restoration and the avoidance of chipping of the ceramic in monolithic restorations.

Metal restorations, on the other hand, score highly with their high flexural strength. This reduces the risk of breakage to a minimum. The color can be precisely adapted to the patient's case with the individually designed ceramic facing. Last but not least, the area of application of metal-ceramic restorations is much more flexible.