September 4, 2018 | Pamela Hanneman, CDT | Zirconia
Pamela Hanneman, CDT has been a technician for 23 years and a CDT since 2002. Her experience includes managing a large ceramic department for 13 years and managing the CAP milling center for four years. She also held a role as training & education manager with Zahn Dental where she was responsible for testing and vetting new products, and then implementing them in laboratories. She has recently transitioned into a new role as CMC's production manager.
In her current role Pam works with and tests many new products, materials, and technologies. She also receives many questions about staining and glazing (among many other things!). She recently sat down with us and shared the top nine questions that she receives on a regular basis as well as her responses.
A: I do. It makes it nice and clean. You can also do a little smoothing with the sandblaster, which gives it a nice surface.
A: For example, if you have an A2 disc and you want an A3 then I would put one coat of A3 on it. I would not dip it.
A: No, I do not. I get a better result without it.
A: I do like them for the incisal liquids, and only for the incisal liquids. Aqua brushes do not distribute liquid well enough, and when you put dentin in large areas you do not want to risk the areas becoming splotchy. Also, when you squeeze the brushes too hard, the liquid leaks out and that could cause more trouble.
A: It is best not to have any metal on your brushes. If you do have metal on your brushes then make sure to not dip the metal part.
A: That is the best way to go. I highly recommend metal free and synthetic brushes because metal does contaminate the liquid.
A: It depends on what system you're using and it depends on the communication with the doctor. Two coats of the dark pink shading liquid typically result in basic tissue shade. The gingiva shade also depends on the ethnicity of the patient.
A: Yes; I encourage people to experiment and try different things. I've experimented with mixing colors, and it helped me get 3D shades.
A: You always want to put your incisal on first because you want the zirconia to absorb the colors. The usual steps of incisal, central dissectional groove, go around the gingival one shade darker (one swipe). Then quick dip (one second).
