Dental Porcelain and PFM Porcelains

Applications/Use

a. Porcelain inlays and jacket crowns
b. PFM crowns and bridges
c. Denture teeth

Terms

PFM-porcelain fused to metal
Fusing-adherence of porcelain particles into a single porcelain mass

Classification

 Dental porcelain is manufactured as a powder. When it is heated to a very high temperature in a special oven, it fuses into a homogeneous mass. The heating process is called baking. Upon cooling, the mass is hard and dense. The material is made in a variety of shades to closely match most tooth colors. Baked porcelain has a translucency similar to that of dental enamel, so that porcelain crowns, pontics, and inlays of highly pleasing appearance can be made. Ingredients of porcelain include feldspar, kaolin, silica in the form of quartz, materials which act as fluxes to lower the fusion point, metallic oxide, and binders. Porcelains are classified into high-, medium-, and low-fusing groups, depending upon the temperature at which fusion takes place. 
 
High-Fusing Porcelains. High-fusing porcelains fuse at 2,400o Fahrenheit or over. They are used for the fabrication of full porcelain crowns (jacket crowns). 

Medium-Fusing Porcelains. Medium-fusing porcelains fuse between 2,000o and 2,400o Fahrenheit. They are used in the fabrication of inlays, crowns, facings, and pontics. A pontic is the portion of a fixed partial denture, which replaces a missing tooth. 

Low-Fusing Porcelains. Low-fusing porcelains fuse between 1,600o and 2,000o Fahrenheit. They are used primarily to correct or modify the contours of previously baked high- or medium-fusing porcelain restorations. Eg  for PFM restorations

Structure

Components

a. Large number of oxides but principally silicon oxide, aluminum oxide. and potassium oxide    
b. Oxides are supplied by mixing clay, feldspar, and quartz.

Manipulation

Porcelain powders mixed with water and compacted into position for firing
Shrinkage is 30% on firing because of fusing and so must be made oversized and built up by several firing steps

Properties

1. Physical

a. Excellent electrical and thermal insulation
b. Low coefficient of thermal expansion and contraction
c. Good color and translucency; excellent aesthetics

2. Chemical

a. Not resistant to acids (and can be dissolved by  contact with APF topical fluoride treatments)
b. Can be acid-etched with phosphoric acid or  hydrofluoric acid for providing microll1echanical retention for cements

3. Mechanical

a. Harder than tooth structure and ,will cause opponent wear
b. Can be polished with aluminum oxide pastes

Applications

a. Dentulous impressions for casts for prosthodontics

b. Dentulous impressions for pedodontic appliances

c. Dentulous impressions for study models for orthodontics

d. Edentulous impressions for casts for denture construction

Components 

a. Fillers added to most to control shrinkage
b. Matrix

Effects of Amalgam.

(1) The combined effects of the properties of its ingredients should provide the most satisfactory restorative material.

(2) Quantity of mercury. Too little mercury in the mix results in a grainy, weak, readily tarnished, and corroded amalgam. Too much mercury will cause excessive expansion and weakened amalgam.

 (3) Composition of the alloy. Composition of the alloy must include a minimum of 65 percent silver, a maximum of 29 percent tin, a maximum of 6 to 13 percent copper, and a maximum of two percent zinc by weight

 (4) Correct proportion important. Before use, the silver alloy is mixed with pure and uncontaminated mercury. There are some alloys that are completely zinc free. They can therefore be used more successfully in a moisture-contaminated environment.

 (5) Properties of the finished product.

Silver imparts strength, durability, and color, gives the alloy desirable setting expansion, decreases flow, and accelerates (decreases) the setting time.

Tin makes the amalgam easier to work, controls excessive setting expansion, and increases both flow and setting time.

Copper increases hardness, contributes to setting expansion, reduces flow, and decreases setting time.

Zinc increases workability, and unites with oxygen and other "impurities" to produce a clean amalgam.

Model. Cast. and Die Materials

Applications
- Gold casting, porcelain and porcelain-fused–to metal fabrication procedures
- Orthodontic and pedodontic appliance construction
- Study models for occlusal records

Terms
a. Models-replicas of hard and soft tissues for study of dental symmetry
b. Casts-working replicas of hard and soft tissues for use in the fabrication of appliances or restorations
c. Dies :-  working replicas of one tooth (or a few teeth) used for the fabrication of a restoration
d. Duplicates-second casts prepared from original  casts

Classification by materials

a Models :- (model plaster or orthodontic stone; gypsum product)
b. Stone casts (regular stone; gypsum product)
c. Stone dies (diestone; gypsum product)-may electroplated
d. Epoxy dies (epoxy polymer)-abrasion-resistant dies