When it comes to choosing between metal braces or all-porcelain braces, most dentists will advise us to choose a material that won't interfere with MRIs, CTs or X-rays. And zirconia all-porcelain teeth are a really reliable choice.

Why exactly should you choose zirconia all-porcelain teeth?

Porcelain teeth have long been one of the fast and effective ways to restore teeth. However, metal porcelain teeth can release metal ions, which can cause adverse reactions to the body, such as darkened gums, bleeding gums and shrinkage. In addition, due to the presence of metal inner crowns, the light transmission, colour and shape of metal porcelain teeth are quite different from natural teeth, and even produce a greenish-grey effect in the light. In addition, metal porcelain teeth are unstable under liquid oral acidic and alkaline environments and bacteria, and will also interfere with CT MRI.

In order to change this situation, the international oral health care community has become popular with a new porcelain dental material without metal crowns - zirconia all-ceramic series.

So, is zirconia safe?

Zirconia for medical and dental use excels in terms of biosafety. Years of experiments and clinical cases have proven that zirconia has no toxic damage to bone and soft tissue cells and no allergic reactions have been reported.

Let us answer some common questions about zirconia:

1. Zirconia is sometimes mistaken for a metal. In fact, zirconia is not zirconium metal or zirconia, although it contains metallic elements, it is an oxide ceramic. This is like the difference between sodium chloride (the chemical component of table salt) and metallic sodium.

2. There are concerns about whether zirconia is radioactive. As a matter of fact, starting from zirconium originating from zirconium oxide, it goes through several steps such as cleaning processing and powder processing, during which all impurities are removed. The State Food and Drug Administration (SFDA) has strict radioactivity test requirements for all ceramic materials on the market. Experiments have proved that the radioactivity of pure zirconia powder is not only less than that of glass ceramics, but even lower than that of human bone tissue.

Does using zirconia to restore teeth lead to a high chipping rate?

Numerous studies have shown that the incidence of chipping in zirconia is not higher than in conventional porcelain restorations. It has been found that chipping of zirconia occurs mainly within the veneer rather than at the interface between the veneer and the zirconia base crown. There are three main reasons for chipping: improper design of the base crown form, excessive thickness of the local surface decorative porcelain, failure to control the temperature according to the standard during the sintering of the decorative porcelain, as well as the doctor's failure to go through a reasonable treatment such as re-glazing and sintering or the standard three-step polishing, etc. The chipping rate is higher than that of conventional porcelain restorations. As long as you choose a regular hospital and an experienced doctor, these problems can be completely avoided and patients can rest assured.

Advantages of zirconia all-ceramic teeth:

1. small radiation: medical zirconia has very little alpha ray residue, only 60 microns penetration depth, which will not cause any harm to the human body.

2. High strength, no metal inner crown: zirconia has the characteristics of high density and high strength, which does not need metal support, but can make more than 6 units of porcelain bridge, solving the problem of long bridge which cannot be reached by traditional all-ceramic bridge.

3. Excellent aesthetic effect: Successful all-porcelain dental restorations are realistic and beautiful, strong and wear-resistant, with a colour similar to that of natural teeth, good biocompatibility, no irritation of oral tissues, easy to clean, restoring the function of the teeth as well as having a cosmetic effect. All-ceramic teeth have good transparency and refractive properties, in the neck of the tooth will not appear black line, can achieve good aesthetic effect, which is the traditional porcelain teeth can not be compared.

4. Reliable: zirconia all-ceramic teeth have no metal odour, and when in contact with air, water or any electrolyte will rapidly produce a micro-oxidised film, which not only avoids metal corrosion, but also prevents the production of metal odour. In addition, the non-metallic zirconia will not produce any barrier to X-rays, patients do not need to remove the restorations when doing head X-rays, CT or MRI examinations, saving a lot of trouble.