Lava DVS Competition

June 24, 2010

While attending the Cerec meeting this past weekend, it was brought up that Ivoclar has been working on a way to combine a zirconia coping  with an e.Max overlay.  Evidently, there are sufficient challenges to pressing lithium disilicate to zirconia that the alternative process of bonding the two substances together holds more promise.  At the Cerec meeting, we were told that there was a new study coming out of Boston which indicated Ivoclar’s MultiLink Cement was capable of bonding an e.Max crown over a zirconia coping.  There was also mention that Ivoclar was working on a bonder material that could be used to fuse the two materials together in a porcelain furnace, similar to the Lava DVS process.

This type of restoration would be nice to have in your armamentarium.  For example, if you were completing an anterior case and one of the preps had been endodontically treated creating a dark stumpf, you could use a e.Max restoration with a thin zirconia coping to help mask the tooth structure, and then do the remaining units with unsupported e.Max.  Sure, its similar to any of the Press-to-Zirconia products on the market, except that the e.Max Press material is about twice as strong as those other materials in terms of flexural strength.

If Ivoclar’s plans prove successful, I would see no reason to get involved with Lava DVS. If I hear anything definitive, I will let you know.

© 2010, Jeff Saylors. All rights reserved.