Tosch Laboratory, Inc.

A Certified CEREC inLab Crown and Bridge Dental Laboratory

The following photographs were taken in-house of an eight unit anterior bridge as it was designed, milled and finished.  Please note, this is an actual case that I photographed as it was being make.  The pictures are not great because they were all made here in the lab with a pocket size Canon PowerShot camera that is not designed for this type of photography.  The pictures were just taken as we worked.  Below are pictures of the steps in designing the framework prior to milling.  Click on the images the large to see a larger version.

The finished framework design

The finished framework design

The following four photographs are of the zirconia framework after color infiltration to match the 0M3 shade guide and the sintering process.  The sintering sprue is still attached to the lingual of the bridge.  This sprue prevents any distortion during sintering.

Framework design with antagonist

Basic framework design

After removing the sintering sprues, the framework is smoothed and the margins are adjusted as needed.  The framework is then coated with e.max Ceram ZirLiner in the appropriate shade and fired under vacuum.  This liner insures a strong bond between the framework and the e.max porcelain to be pressed onto the frame.

The next step is to seat the framework back on the working models and wax the bridge to contour.  We use our diagnostic waxup as a guide, if available, and create a hard putty mold of the waxup.  The mold is placed over the framework and hot wax is injected into the mold to exactly replicate the diagnostic waxup.  We then make final adjustments to the bridge so that it looks exactly as we want the finished bridge to look.  The waxed bridge is then sprued and placed in the appropriate size pressing ring, in this case 300ml, and invested.  The first photograph below is the pressed bridge immediately after being divested.  The next three pictures are of the finished bridge after staining and glazing