PFM Step by Step | Premium Dental Lab of Chicago

PFM Step by Step 1 comment

Posted at 10:29 pm in -Featured-

17169 103025876393153 100000572225188 84632 4531744 n PFM Step by Step

Step 1:

The Doctor sends an impression of a patients mouth to our lab.

17169 103025879726486 100000572225188 84633 4450740 n PFM Step by Step

Step 2:

We take the impression of a patients mouth and make a duplicate of the “prepped tooth”.

17169 103025883059819 100000572225188 84634 3310608 n PFM Step by Step

Step 3:

We trim away the stone (gums) around the prepped tooth. This is a very important step because if too much is trimmed away the tooth will not fit the prep. properly.

Occasionally there are voids in the impression that will not become stone in the model. You can see this in the picture, the orange spot under the margin is left because of a bubble in the impression. Fortunately this spot will not affect the quality of the crown because it is under the margin.

17169 103025889726485 100000572225188 84635 3083704 n PFM Step by Step

This is an overview of the prepped and trimmed tooth.

In this image you can see the groves left from when the tooth was prepped by a doctor.

17169 103025896393151 100000572225188 84636 7025115 n PFM Step by Step

Step 4:

The metal technician covers the tooth with a special wax so we can make a metal base for the crown. We call this a coping.

17169 103026613059746 100000572225188 84644 8143744 n PFM Step by Step

Step 5:

The metal technician attaches the wax coping to a wax sprue so that they can cast this coping in metal.

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Step 6:

This is what the coping looks like after it has been casted in metal.

It will then be cut from the cast.

17169 103026619726412 100000572225188 84646 5811826 n PFM Step by Step

Step 7:

The metal technicial then takes that coping and “finishes” it to be smooth and to have a thickness ranging from 0.3mm up to 1.0mm.

The base of the PFM is now finished.

17169 103026623059745 100000572225188 84647 3660909 n PFM Step by Step

Step 8:

Next another technician applys a layer of “Opaque”. Which is to allow the porcelain to adhere to the metal. The shade of the final product MUST be taken into account to pick the shade of Opaque layer.

17169 103026626393078 100000572225188 84648 255560 n PFM Step by Step

Step 9:

This is where the Porcelain technician takes over. This photo shows the first layer of porcelain being applied.

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Step 9:

This is yet another layer of porcelain.

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Step 9:

This is the final layer of porcelain that the technician will apply for the “first bake”. This layer will be a little bulky to ensure the technician can shape and contour the crown to be as similar to the natural tooth as possible.

17169 103026749726399 100000572225188 84651 6637773 n PFM Step by Step

Step 10:

The tooth has been baked in an oven at a very specific temperature to harden the porcelain.

As you can see the tooth is a little bulky so the technician can customize its shape.

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Step 11:

This is how the tooth looks after being shaved to resemble the damaged or decayed tooth.

This process is the most “artistic” of all.

17169 103026756393065 100000572225188 84653 1844282 n PFM Step by Step

Step 11:

The crown has been “Glazed” to give it a natural vibrant look.

This is also the final stage and from here the crown is ready to be checked by a “CDT”, and then sent to a Doctor for placement (cementation) in a patients mouth.

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