The most beautiful crown for a tooth is, without question, all-porcelain or all-ceramic. With porcelain fused to metal crowns, there has to be an opaque layer put over the metal to block out its color. This makes it impossible to have a translucent restoration that mimics the translucency of natural teeth. Only with pure porcelain or pure ceramic can you have such translucency.

Lava dental crowns present an innovative computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technology to produce an all-ceramic crown on a zirconia base. Lava dental crowns were created by the need for all-ceramic dental restorations in the posterior region, which is an increasingly important aspect of dental care. Until Lava dental crowns, there were no real suitable ceramics or economic processing procedures available. With the new LAVA system, it will be possible to satisfy these demands in the future.

The Lava system is based on the machining of presintered zirconia, which, due to its outstanding mechanical properties, its biocompatibility, and its excellent esthetics in combination with a specially designed veneer ceramic, is the ideal candidate for these applications. Presintering is the process of heating of a compact at a temperature below the normal final sintering temperature to increase the ease of handling or shaping the compact. Zirconia is a high-tech ceramic material that is characterized by its outstanding stability and biocompatibility, as well as strength levels that are significantly higher than other all-ceramic materials. In addition to strength, Lava all-ceramic system restorations display excellent esthetics and precise fit characteristics. In combination with a corresponding CAD/CAM unit, the use of an easy-to-machine presintered ceramic material allows for the first time a reliable, fully-automated and thus, fast manufacturing of the Lava Dental Crown.

The advantages of Lava Dental Crown is summarized:

Excellent esthetics and translucency Outstanding marginal fit Superior strength of zirconia with high fracture resistance 8 shades of zirconia framework Ideal for 3-unit bridge applications Successful 3-year clinical trial

The esthetics and biocompatibility of Lava restorations represent the optimum in all-ceramic systems. Many cosmetic dentists today are shifting towards the use of Lava Dental Crowns. They are surprised by the results - Excellent clinical margin, fit and stability, and superior aesthetics. Preparations require removal of less tooth structure, and cementation can be accomplished using proven, conventional techniques.