KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED

A zirconia block for faster same-day crowns without sacrificing strength or lifelike esthetics

Dr. Marisol King began her review of KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED looking for better translucency and esthetics from same-day zirconia restorations, along with a more efficient way to deliver them. “Truly, Kuraray has hit it out of the park with this product,” she said. “Both the esthetics and efficiency are superb.”

The multilayered zirconia block is specially designed to combine strength, esthetics, and speed for predictable same-day dentistry. The block is fully optimized for Dentsply Sirona’s CEREC digital workflow—Primescan, Primemill, and SpeedFire, paired with the latest CEREC software—which every DPS evaluator used in this review.

“The efficiency at which I can deliver a single milled restoration is unmatched,” Dr. King said. “This product is fabulous!” she added. “I’m very excited to see the improvement of zirconia products across the market, and I think Kuraray is leading the charge.”

Speed at Every Step

KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED is milled in less than 5 minutes in the Primemill’s Super-Fast Milling Mode and sintered in 9 minutes with the SpeedFire furnace.

For Dr. Joshua Fowler, who had already made KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED a routine part of his practice workflow, the milling and sintering time “means a completed crown is ready to fire in about 20 minutes after scanning is finished.” That translates to “shortened wait times for patients” and “better productivity because of decreased chair time on crown visits,” he said.

“It mills in 4 to 5 minutes and sinters in 9 minutes— much faster than most of the competition,” Dr. Aaron Goodman affirmed. He estimated the product saves 10 to 15 minutes of chair time per procedure. Dr. Stacey Montano also noted, “It did a great job in increasing fabrication speed for zirconia crowns,” which allowed for quicker delivery.

“The accelerated pace of living is making patients need their restorative work done in record time,” Dr. Bilyana Tesic said. “Kuraray said, ‘Challenge accepted,’ and came up with an ultrafast 9-minute sinter.” While using KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED, Dr. Jonathan Dubin said, “I can shorten time for a posterior crown appointment with confidence,” and as Dr. Robert Conte put it, “Increased efficiency means increased patient satisfaction and ultimately increased productivity.”

“I just had a patient who needed his front teeth restored with crowns right before his upcoming travel,” Dr. Mouhannad Almajdalani recalled. “From start to finish, KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED shaved an hour of working time for me. That is a game changer.”

Fit and Finish

Dr. Jeffrey Briney used the blocks for posterior 1st and 2nd molars and “was able to provide beautiful full-coverage crowns in 20 minutes that had perfect fitting margins.” He said the “esthetically pleasing re­sults” were complemented by “unmatched strength.”

“I produced excellent fitting crowns with little-to-no adjustments needed using an extremely quick workflow,” Dr. Dubin said. “For strength, fit, and time management, this is the best crown material.” When asked what he liked best about the product, Dr. Dubin highlighted the “ease of use and fast production with excellent marginal fit,” while Dr. Goodman pointed to the “speed and accuracy of the finishing.”

Dr. Almajdalani found that KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED offered the “best sintering speed and accuracy of any other block on the market,” and he added, “I highly recommend this block.”

Strong, Esthetic Results

With its 1,023 MPa flexural strength, KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED delivers durability for both anterior and posterior applications while maintaining excellent esthetics with natural translucency, even after rapid sintering. The block’s smooth shade gradation also helps deliver lifelike depth and vitality without staining.

“I appreciate the flexural strength and esthetics,” Dr. Almajdalani said. Dr. Dubin considered KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED “an esthetic enhancement in zirconia crowns, and they are sintered faster than any other brand.” Specifically, Dr. Montano shared, “Esthetics are just as good, if not better than, KATANA Zirconia ONE, but the speed to deliver is much better.”

“We have used this material in every tooth position,” Dr. Fowler said. “It looks good enough to be an anterior tooth and it’s strong enough at a minimal thickness for success with low-clearance molar areas. Every case has been a success. I have hundreds in service with zero fractures and zero pop-offs to date.”

“I think this really is a beautiful material, and I love the shade gradation,” Dr. King said, though she and some of the other evaluators noted that zirconia esthetics still have room to grow.

Overall Satisfaction

Dr. Briney, who used to avoid chairside zirconia due to its “monotone appearance,” found that he “can finally offer a beautiful restoration that mimics a living tooth.”

Ultimately, Dr. Briney, who has reviewed hundreds of dental products, said, “This block checks all the boxes: beauty, strength, durability, and speed of production. KATANA Zirconia ONE SPEED is the first product I’ve evaluated to get ‘excellent’ ratings in every category. I have already ordered many boxes since using it for the first time.”