Tosoh Recognizes BruxZir®
Inside Dental Technology delivers updates on digital workflows, materials, lab techniques, and innovation in dental technology through expert articles and videos.
February 1, 2011
Volume 2, Issue 2, February 2011
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Glidewell Laboratories received Tosoh Corporation’s 2010 “Best Product Innovation Award” in the Advanced Ceramic category for BruxZir Solid Zirconia.
Yutaka Nakamura, president of Tosoh America, Takaaki Kawakami, and Jay Thomas presented the award to Jim Glidewell, CDT, president and owner of Glidewell Laboratories, and Robin Carden, senior director of Research & Development, at the laboratory’s Newport Beach, Calif., headquarters on December 6, 2010. The award, which stands nearly 2 feet tall, is a plaque made with the largest piece of black zirconia ever produced by Tosoh. Formed at high pressure, sintered at over 1500úC, and then polished and engraved with an acknowledgment formally recognizing the BruxZir material, the plaque itself is both impressive and unique.
Tosoh, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is the world’s leading supplier of quality, high-purity zirconia. Over the past 4 years, Glidewell Laboratories has worked with Tosoh’s zirconia material to develop BruxZir solid zirconia.
Glidewell Laboratories’ 66-person Research & Development team was instrumental in the development of BruxZir and used innovative processes to refine Tosoh zirconia to a significantly reduced grain size, which increases the strength and optical properties of BruxZir. This team, which includes PhDs in material science and engineering, dentists, and dental technicians, used the latest material advancements in conjunction with proprietary, groundbreaking processes to create dental restorations that exhibit lifelike vitality and chip-proof strength.
Tosoh chose BruxZir Solid Zirconia for this honor because of the inventive processes employed by Glidewell Laboratories that have repurposed how zirconia is used in dentistry. While zirconia has become a preferred restorative material, the June 2009 release of BruxZir has further enhanced this material in both form and function. Unlike conventional dental restorations that start with a metal base and then are overlaid with porcelains, BruxZir is a solid, monolithic zirconia crown that is fabricated using CAD/CAM technology.
BruxZir solid zirconia has quickly gained the attention of the dental community due primarily to its strength and superior esthetics when compared to metal-based restorations for patients who brux and grind their teeth.
The award, which stands nearly 2 feet tall, is a plaque made with the largest piece of black zirconia ever produced by Tosoh.
