Innovator Profile: Zirkonzahn

Innovation drives our profession and DLP wants to recognize the companies at the forefront.  In this Innovator Profile, DLP spoke with Alessandro Cucchiaro, MDT, General Manager of Zirkonzahn USA.

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Q: How does Zirkonzahn support and educate labs?

A: Zirkonzahn has three state-of-the-art training facilities in the U.S. to offer a range of free courses related to digital technology. Our next goal is to open an additional training facility, to make it easier to attend our courses.

Q: What new products has Zirkonzahn introduced to its digital product catalog that improve labs’ ability to manufacture and create restorations?
A: Zirkonzahn’s new digital device is the Face Hunter in combination with the PlaneSystem. The Face Hunter scans the patient’s face to make a 3D image. Essentially, dental technicians will have the opportunity to design their case digitally.

Q: How do Zirkonzahn products stand out from your competitors?
A: Thanks to the manual milling system (MAD-MAM), Zirkonzahn developed the first monolithic full arch zirconia bridge and made it esthetically pleasing by creating a high translucent Zirconia material. This was when Prettau® Zirconia was born. Prettau has the strength and the basic esthetic requirements to make a case look pleasing and last a lifetime.

Q: How does Prettau® anterior zirconia distinguish itself from other zirconia products on the market?
A: Certainly the translucency. Zirkonzahn created Prettau® Anterior to overcome esthetic issues of opacity of existing materials. The demand for full monolithic single zirconia crowns is increasing; however, some dentists complain that it is too bright and stands out. You need a higher translucent material for these cases. It absorbs the same quantity of light as natural teeth to improve the esthetic effect and cut time on the layering of porcelain necessary to obtain integration. Basically, Prettau® Anterior is as translucent as lithium-disilicate but has a considerably higher flexural strength.

Click here to keep reading about how Zirkonzahn helps dental labs during every part of the digital workflow.

Q: How does Zirkonzahn help dental labs during every part of the digital workflow?

A: We have a team of IT and hardware specialists and dental technicians that can help with software issues or technical questions, to assist with the digital workflow transition. The technicians have received special training and constantly perform real cases to keep updated and improve their techniques.

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Q: How does Zirkonzahn see the future of dentistry?
A: Certainly digitalized. Most techniques will be improved by digital technology and any dental technician setting up a lab will head directly towards digital. There are many people with great ideas that will revolutionize the industry.

Featured Products

Face Hunter

This new Zirkonzahn scanner produces 3D photo-realistic digitalization of faces as a basis for the manufacturing of dental prostheses. The Face Hunter offers intuitive controls, high scanning speed of less than 0.3 seconds per face, and is suitable for mobile use with laptops. The Face Hunter is ideal for presentations during patient consultations. Facial scans are ideally combined with the PlaneFinder, which takes into account new facial features as alignment points for model transferring.

Compact Line Milling Unit M1

The Compact Line Milling Unit M1 is compact  (47.7 x 69.3 x 61.3 cm) and is suited for laboratories of all sizes. The M1 offers extremely short milling time and is available in several models including M1, M1 ABUTMENT, M1 WET and M1 WET HEAVY. The M1 offers processing capabilities for soft materials, while M1 WET is equipped with a wet processing function allowing for the additional processing of glass ceramics. M1 WET HEAVY can process both soft and hard materials.  

Prettau ® Anterior

The new zirconia material has the same transparency as lithium disilicate, while possessing a much higher bending strength. In biaxial tensile tests for material breaking strength, it reached values of over 660 MPa (+/- 120 MPa). Prettau® Anterior is particularly suited for the use in the anterior tooth area and for the manufacture of highly esthetic single crowns, inlays, onlays and max. 3-unit bridges (fully anatomic or reduced). Just like Prettau® Zirconia, the new material meets highest quality standards and is biocompatible.

This article originally appeared in the July/August 2014 issue of Dental Lab Products. For information on other lab techniques and upcoming products, subscribe to DLP's newsletter at bit.ly/dentallabenews.