As a Cerec dentist what appeals to me most is the convenience of one visit dentistry. Patients love it when they get a restoration same day within a couple of hours. And most of the time that is absolutely possible. However there are some anterior cases where more time and effort is required to get a more esthetic result. Most of the extra time that is needed is attributed to the the extra firing cycles in the oven that are needed to get the desired results.
Typically I will put the desired stains on the restoration and put it in the oven. Once the cycle is over the stains are embedded within the restoration but it still has a very dull texture to it because there was no glaze applied to it. The reason why it wasn’t applied is because the application of glaze over the stains will diffuse the stains and defeat the purpose of the stains. So in this case a 2nd firing cylce is required to put glaze and get the required luster with the stains being retained. This is where more time is required and in most cases it is completely justified.
However, I have found an alternative to this 2 cycle process. I still do the 1st cycle as described earlier of applying the stains and firing the restoration. But now instead of applying the glaze and doing a 2nd fire I simply polish the restoration with Yellow Diashine and a stiff Robinson bristle brush giving the restoration the desired luster. One can see in the pictures below that after the polish the stains are still retained and I believe that this technique serves both purposes of getting the desired result in a timely manner. That is why I call it Best of both worlds.
I hope you find this technique helpful with your clinical cases.
Keep Cerecing.
