Find out why one clinician thinks the new KATANA™ Zirconia ONE SPEED CROWN makes same-day chairside dentistry faster and easier than ever before

How many times have you heard the phrase, “This product can do it all?” And then how any times have you been disappointed? Probably too many to count. Prepare to have that phrase come true with Kuraray’s Noritake Dental’s KATANA™ Zirconia ONE SPEED CROWN.
“Really, it’s remarkable,” said Dr. Greg Campbell, who had the opportunity to test the new crown during its development. “I honestly didn’t think this could be done, but I’m excited to be part of it.”

Speed
When used with Dentsply Sirona’s SpeedFire sintering furnace, clinicians can sinter the KATANA™ Zirconia ONE SPEED CROWN in 9 minutes. Thinking back to other innovative Kuraray Noritake Dental products, Dr. Campbell pointed out that the sintering time for KATANA™ Zirconia STML was initially “30 minutes and change, but it was worth it…because you could do this with a multi-layered block. You had fewer reductions, great margins, and great esthetics.” Eventually, Kuraray Noritake Dental got that time down to 18 minutes via KATANA™ Zirconia ONE, but the manufacturer strived to top those results.
To that end, they developed a new proprietary zirconia powder that can reach a highly activated state with little energy, which results in an accelerated 9-minute sintering process. “You can literally take a patient from start to finish in less than an hour—legitimately, in less than an hour,” said Dr. Campbell. “It’s unheard of.”

Beauty
KATANA™ Zirconia ONE SPEED CROWN has the same 4 layers of gradated shades and translucency as the original KATANA™ Zirconia Block, which supports natural-looking restorations. Less reduction helps, too. “Instead of having to do a 1.5-mm reduction for some materials, you can safely be at 1 mm or a little less,” said Dr. Campbell. “I would want that on my tooth. I would like to have the most conservative options. It can be used anywhere in the mouth,” he continued. “It’s an esthetic block. A lot of clinicians just simply polish it.”

Strength
As Dr. Campbell explained it, zirconia has always been judged on how much yttria it contains—the more yttria the more translucent it is but also the less flexural strength it has. “The problem is, they’re basing that on prior research or old technology,” explained Dr. Campbell. “If you have [Kuraray Noritake Dental’s proprietary powder], then you’re not comparing apples to apples. You could have something that’s a 5Y or 5-1/2Y that’s even stronger than a 3Y.” For comparison, consider that the KATANA™ Zirconia ONE crown has a flexural strength of 933 MPa. KATANA™ Zirconia ONE SPEED CROWN stands at 1,023 MPa. “I mean, how strong is strong enough?” asked Dr. Campbell. “That’s very strong at 0.8 mm. A lot of people say you can’t do that, but Kuraray did it.”

Patient (and Clinician) Satisfaction
Dr. Campbell has been in the business of enhancing patient’s smiles and improving oral health for many years (although now he spends a great deal of time speaking and educating other dentists). He said that he might take it for granted sometimes, but he always let’s patients put the zirconia block into the mill and press start. “They stand there and next thing you know they pull out their camera, they’re taking pictures, or they take a video, and they’re sending it to their friends,” said Dr. Campbell. “It’s been a great patient enhancement. Even the engineers from Boeing [who are patients] want to see, ‘How does this actually work?’” “And maybe a new patient in hygiene hears the machine running and asks the hygienist about it,” continued Dr. Campbell. “Rather than saying, ‘Yeah, that’s an annoying sound. It will be over in minute,’ the hygienist takes the patient to see the mill and explains what we do. The hygienist explains that this is how we make a crown for you while you wait. For us, it’s been a really wonderful enhancement.”

Dr. Campbell also pointed out the benefits of introducing a new material to a practice. “Listen, dental materials, in dental school, the most boring class. I got the best sleep ever in my life,” he said. “I never in a million years thought I would be talking to somebody about dental materials. But the chemistry of this is so exciting and it really is a wonderful thing.” “Dentists can get bored doing the same things over and over,” continued Dr. Campbell. “And I tell you what this does, it brings excitement to the clinician. It’s always nice to get excited about something. And when something does that, it’s such a good feeling. This is an exciting product.”