All-ceramic full-coverage restorations: concepts and guidelines for material selection

High-strength, all-ceramic systems for full-coverage restorations use all-ceramic core materials for the fabrication and processing of infrastructures (eg, crown copings, fixed partial denture frameworks) that are then veneered with porcelain. Not all of these all-ceramic core materials are alike, and as such, they present with different properties that may affect their indications and limitations, the laboratory procedures used for their processing, and their clinical handling. This article reviews their clinically relevant properties and discusses the effect of these characteristics on their indications and recommended clinical procedures.

This article provides an overview of the clinically relevant properties of high-strength, all-ceramic systems used for aesthetic restorative dentistry. Upon reading this article, the reader should: Be able to differentiate among the principal all-ceramic material systems. Understand the clinical indications for contemporary, high-strength ceramics.