Technical Articles

Technical Talent Featured at Jensen Education Day

Nearly 600 lab owners and technicians attended Jensen Dental's 18th annual Education Day at the Swissôtel in Chicago. On hand to share tips and techniques and answer attendee questions were Nondas Vlachopoulos, MDT; Hubert Schenk, MDT; Dr. John Sorenson; Naoki Aiba, CDT; Fechmi Housein, MDT; Eric Sjodin,...

Digital Captek: a New, Easier Way to Fabricate Captek Restorations

Rob Teachout, BS, CDT, shares the step-by-step technique for using Argen's new digital service for high-strength, Digital Captek restorations.

PFM Restorations Transform Patient's Smile

Restoring the smile of a dentist’s relative can be particularly challenging. Here, Luke Kahng shares how he transformed the smile of a client’s mother-in-law with two PFM bridges and one PFM crown.

Lakeland Dental Technologies: Streamlining Workflow, Improving Efficiency

In just one year, Lakeland Dental Technologies, Grand Rapids, MN, has improved consistency, reduced remakes, and nearly eliminated hand waxing using the complete Jensen Digital Solution.

10 Tips For Pressing Success With Programat® Pressing Furnaces From Ivoclar Vivadent

Proper calibration and spruing techniques are just two of the ways to ensure you're getting the most accurate results with Ivoclar Vivadent¹s Programat® Pressing Furnaces.

From the Series: 40 Under Forty

Josef Kolbeck: a Technical Innovator

Josef Kolbeck has accomplished a lot in his 12 years in the industry. He received his dental technology degree from the Universidad Latina of Costa Rica, served as Academic Coordinator in dental technology at that same university, owned his own lab and is currently the managing director of a five-person...

Soft Tissue Management With An ITero Milled Model and Straumann Repositionable Implant Analog

Specializing in implant borne prosthetics, Midwest Dental Arts has discovered a technique to improve soft tissue management that we want to share. This is the first of a 2-part article that illustrates how to create a soft tissue model, using an iTero milled model with the Straumann Repositionable Implant...

Proper Shading On Straumann's CAD/CAM Zirconia Material

Both zirconia and metal lack fluorescent qualities, which we should attempt to re-create when restoring the oral cavity with fixed prosthetic restorations. When applying porcelain to a zirconia or metal coping or framework, it is helpful to use a porcelain material that has fluorescent properties to...

Nine Bright Ideas For Shade-matching Success

> Here are nine simple, yet very powerful, strategies that will dramatically increase the success rate of any shade-sensitive case, whether it involves bleached shades or not: One- Annotate everything you do very carefully, including: the opaques and opaque modifiers used; the recipe for the opaceous...

Doing It White

STRATEGIES for MATCHING BLEACHED DENTITION

Titanium: Standardized Techniques For Success

By knowing your product and standardizing your techniques—and sticking to them—you can be successful in processing titanium restorations.

Going Digital: 3D Data Capture For the Fabrication of Titanium Frameworks

The NextSmile virtual technique and service offers laboratories a labor-saving way to fabricate custom-milled titanium frameworks.

Raising the Bar to Meet Demand For Implant-Supported Dentures

Frank Munzenmayer, CDT, explains how to fabricate an overdenture implant bar without soldering, casting, laser welding or milling using the pre-fabricated SFI Bar from Cendres+Métaux.

The Kolbeck Technique

Josef Kolbeck offers a step-by-step look at his time- and material-saving method of processing a fixed removable denture with the pouring technique that he uses at Town & Country Dental Studios in Freeport, NY.

How to Combine All-Ceramic Anterior and PFM Posterior Restorations For Seamless Esthetics

Russell DeVreugd shows how to blend pressed restorations with PFMs.

Faster, Smarter, Better: 36 Strategies to Boost Your Business

Have an ingenious marketing strategy? Innovative cost-cutting idea? New way to streamline production? Share your best business boosting strategies with over 3,000 of your peers on THE BRIDGE!

From the Series: Faster, Smarter, Better: 36 Strategies to Boost Your Business

Faster, Smarter, Better Technical Strategies to Boost Your Business: What Technical Strategies Do You Use to Boost Your Business?

#### Problem: It's hard to achieve consistency in our work even with a final Q/C check. Strategy: While a final case inspection is important, it shouldn't be the only quality control system in place. Building a system of checks and balances into the entire production process allows you to find and...

How to Fabricate An Esthetic Transitional Partial

This case exemplifies how attention to detail, use of new materials and good communication with the dental team can result in restorations that disappear in the oral environment.

Case Study By Michael Morris and Dr. Fred Arnold: Teamwork is the Key to Matching Single Central

Michael Morris and Dr. Fred Arnold, Lexington Smiles, Lexington, KY

Case Study By Matt Roberts and Dr.Frankie Shull: Communication Critical to Success of Thin Veneers

Matt Roberts, CMR Dental Lab, Idaho Falls, ID, and Dr. Frankie Shull, Lexington, SC

Case Study: Teamwork is the Key to Matching Single Central

Michael Morris and Dr. Fred Arnold, Lexington Smiles, Lexington, KY

How to Create Vitality in Zirconia Restorations

This case study- co-authored with Andrew Maples and Heather Crouch- exemplifies the vital results that can be achieved using the latest CAD/CAM technology and a new-generation zirconia material.

How to Fabricate An Esthetic Porcelain- To-Titanium Restoration

Luke Kahng, CDT, offers his step-by-step technique for fabricating a porcelain-to-titanium restoration using Nobel Biocare's NobelProcera scanner and GC's Initial™ Titanium porcelain.

The Digital Workflow of a Diazir Full Contour Zirconia Restoration

Steve Dearien, CDT, Owner of Sundance Dental Laboratory—who augments his own in-house digital technology by outsourcing some restorations to Diadem Precision Technology—shares a recent Diazir™ Full Contour Zirconia case from start to finish.

How to Build a Fixed Ceramic-Acrylic Hybrid Bridge

Andrea Hegedus, CDT, Owner of Great Lakes Smile Design Studio, shares the case that won her second prize for Best Digital Documentation in Candulor’s 9th KunstZahnWerk Competition.

Technician's Gallery

Fabricating and matching a single central is challenging enough; Ceramist Alwyn Naraine did it in under three hours.

Laser Welding Technology For Partial Denture Repairs

With the advancement of new laser technology, the expansion of laser welding applications in all areas of the laboratory has become a real asset.

Marketing Your Technical Expertise

Laboratory owners are using a variety of innovative strategies—from digital business cards to dentists on staff—to effectively market their laboratory’s services and technical know-how.

The Pure-Press Restoration: Step By Step

Flemming Behrend, CDT, shares his step-by-step technique for creating Pure-Press crowns.

Crown and Bridge

C & B Questions and Answers

Dentures

Questions and Answers: Dentures

Partials

Questions and Answers: Partials

Implants

Questions and Answers: Implants

Ortho

Questions and Answers: Ortho

Miscellaneous Topics

Questions and Answers: Miscellaneous Topics

CAD/CAM Implant Abutment Case Studies

CAD/CAM technology has brought the same precision to implants as it has to all-ceramic restorations, most notably in the fabrication of custom-milled zirconia and titanium implant abutments. Here, three manufacturers who offer this service provide a

Atlantis Abutments Offer Solutions to Failing Root Canals and Periodontically Involved Teeth

A 47-year-old female presented with multiple failing root canals and periodontically involved teeth in the maxilla.

Nobel Biocare™ Zirconia Abutment and Procera® Crown Offer Esthetic Restoration of Tooth #9

A 47-year-old female lost tooth #9 due to trauma from a car accident and had a Nobel Biocare 4.3 Replace™ Select implant placed.

BIOMET 3i Gold-colored Encode® Abutments Eliminate Gray Hue Associated With Metallic Abutments

A 45-year-old female missing maxillary right central incisor was wearing a removable partial denture but was not pleased with its esthetics, phonetics and function.

Pressable Ceramics Case Studies:

11 restorative challenges, all solved using different pressable ceramic systems.

Press-i-Dent Pressable Ceramic and Radiance Porcelain From Aurident, Inc.

Unhappy with the staining and uneven bite of teeth #5-#13, the patient wanted brighter teeth and cosmetic restorations that would improve his smile and overall look.

Noritake Press-to-Zirconia From Darby

A middle-aged male patient presented with a failing three-unit PFM bridge on teeth #6-8.

Ceramco® Press Porcelain Pressed-to-Metal

A healthy, middle-aged woman wanted to replace her bridge (teeth #8-10) with a more esthetic restoration.

Carrara Press System From Elephant Dental

A female patient in her early twenties presented with severely calcified anterior teeth that she wanted to replace with esthetic restorations.

Prismatik ThinPress From Glidewell Direct

A 29-year-old male patient presented with a large midline diastema, a diastema distal to each lateral incisor, several misaligned teeth and a negative buccal corridor space.

Authentic® Pressable From Jensen

The patient presented with discolored composite buildups and worn incisors caused by the misaligned lower incisors.

Willi Geller Creation CP Pressable From Jensen

The patient had a large diastema between teeth #8 and #9, both teeth were too long and disproportionate to her facial features, and tooth #8 was discolored.

Cerpress SL and Sensation SL From Leach and Dillon Products

The 34-year-old female patient wanted to improve the esthetics on teeth #8 and #9 but it had to be done within a week.

Avante and 3G Pressable Ceramic Systems From Pentron Ceramics, Inc.

A 40-year-old male presented with esthetically compromised PFM restorations on teeth #8 and #9. He requested improved alignment and closure of diastemas.

Luminesse Pressable Porcelain System From Talladium

A male in his 20’s presented with TMJ symptoms of excessive occlusal wear, headaches and clicking in the Temporal Mandibular Joints.