Lava™ Core (Dental Lab)

We use Zirconia Lava™ cores on many of our lab cases because they allow us to stack beautiful porcelain artistry on a homogeneous core that offers four excellent features – strength, bio-compatibility, precision fit and superior aesthetics.

Due to these features they have quickly developed a sterling reputation. And, since they come with a 15 year warranty, you can choose this option with confidence.

Please allow us to address some of these impressive features one at a time…

Strength

Lava™ cores are made of a proprietary Zirconia composition that is highly stable and the strongest of its kind (1440 Mpa). This strong foundation ensures that the beautiful porcelain artistry, which we seamlessly fuse to it, will achieve a durable result that can reliably withstand traumatic occlusal forces for years to come.

Bio-compatibility

The homogeneous & non-porous nature of the Zirconia material facilitates excellent marginal fit – perhaps the industries best. In fact, clinical studies have shown it to be among the most bio-compatible marginal coping materials available; even allowing for regeneration of gingiva in some cases!

(Whether you decide to use a Zirconia core for a traditional crown or implant crown, you can bet this is a value added feature that will only help to increase your success rate!)

Precision Fit

We use the latest in 3-D scanning and CAD/Cam technology to create our Lava™ Zirconia cores ensuring a precision milled fit, every time. Of course, this is always a top priority for any restoration we create, but we are especially thrilled with this cutting edge technology because it simply makes it easier and faster to consistently deliver precision quality, every time!

Superior Aesthetics

Because Lava™ cores are tooth colored, they can offer cosmetic results superior to PFMs in many cases. Additionally, 3M is now offering an upgraded aesthetic line called “Lava™ Premium” with its unique “internal shading technology” & “premium dyeing liquids” designed to provide even greater aesthetic flexibility.

Zirconia Lava™ cores are ideal for the following applications:

  • Single crowns
  • 8 Unit bridges – up to 4 pontics in the anterior region
  • Inlay and Onlay bridges
  • Primary telescopes
  • Splinted crowns
  • Custom Zirconia abutments for a wide variety of implant systems