October 2, 2024
Choosing the right milling material can significantly impact your workflow, efficiency, and profitability. With a wide range of options available, it can be overwhelming to determine the best material for your specific needs. Selecting the right millable material is crucial for dental labs because it ensures the durability, precision, and aesthetic quality of dental restorations, ultimately leading to better patient outcomes and satisfaction.
In this blog post, we'll explore the key factors to consider when choosing milling materials, focusing on Zirconia, Wax, Metal, PMMA, partials and frameworks, and Millable Denture Bases.
Zirconia is a popular choice for dental restorations due to its exceptional strength, biocompatibility, and aesthetic properties. It offers excellent translucency, idealizing crowns, bridges, and veneers. Zirconia is also known for its durability and resistance to fracture, ensuring long-lasting restorations for your patients.
Why Zirconia is Best for Your Lab: Zirconia's combination of strength, aesthetics, and biocompatibility makes it a versatile material for a wide range of restorations, increasing your lab's versatility and appeal to dentists.
With good oral hygiene, zirconia crowns can last between 10 and 15 years. Zirconia is the strongest non-metal material, so the longevity rate of zirconia crowns is high.
Wax is a traditional material used to create models and patterns in dental laboratories. While not a milling material in the strictest sense, it plays a crucial role in the fabrication of restorations. Wax patterns can be milled and then invested for casting, providing a versatile option for various restorations. For dental labs that mill wax, Zirlux Wax is a solid choice due to its excellent marginal accuracy, smooth milling properties, and residue-free burning process.
Why Wax is Best for Your Lab: Wax is essential for creating accurate and detailed models and patterns, which are crucial for producing high-quality restorations.
Metal alloys, such as cobalt-chromium and titanium, are commonly used for dental frameworks, partials, and implants. These materials offer exceptional strength and durability, making them suitable for demanding applications. Metal milling can be used to create precise and complex frameworks for restorations.
Why Metal is Best for Your Lab: Metal alloys, such as dental frameworks and implants, are ideal for restorations requiring exceptional strength and durability.
Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a versatile material for denture bases and temporary restorations. It offers a good balance of strength, aesthetics, and cost-effectiveness. PMMA is also known for its reliability and ease of processing, making it a popular choice for many dental laboratories.
Why PMMA is Best for Your Lab: PMMA's versatility, ease of processing, and cost-effectiveness make it a practical choice for various dental restorations, including denture bases and temporary restorations.
A dental lab would want to use thermoplastic resin for milling CrCo frameworks because it offers a streamlined and efficient workflow. By eliminating traditional methods like wax-ups, investing, casting, and finishing, labs can significantly reduce production time and costs. The thermoplastic resin's easy-to-manufacture properties allow for faster processing and fewer errors, ultimately increasing productivity and profitability. Additionally, using digital technology with this resin can improve accuracy and consistency in framework production, resulting in better-fitting and more durable restorations for patients.
Thermoplastic resin is the best choice for our lab because it offers a more efficient, cost-effective, and accurate method for producing CrCo frameworks.
Millable denture bases offer a convenient and efficient way to fabricate dentures. PMMA is a common material used for denture bases, but other options, such as nylon, are also available. When choosing a milling material for denture bases, consider factors such as the patient's comfort, aesthetics, and the desired level of durability.
Why Millable Denture Bases are Best for Your Lab: Millable denture bases offer a streamlined and efficient way to fabricate dentures, improving your lab's productivity and turnaround time.
Selecting the right milling material for your dental lab requires careful consideration of factors such as the type of restoration, the desired properties, and your lab's specific needs. By understanding the advantages and limitations of different materials, you can make informed decisions and optimize your workflow.
Zahn Dental is your trusted partner when it comes to millable materials. Our team of experts can help you choose the best material for your lab, guide milling techniques, and offer support throughout the process. With Zahn Dental, you can ensure your dental lab has the materials to deliver high-quality restorations to your patients.