Restorative material and cementation guide

How the guide works

Choose a restoration type, from a thin veneer to a three-unit bridge in the molar region. The guide then lists every material in the dataset whose manufacturer's instructions for use (IFU) name this restoration as an indication. Materials whose IFU does not list it appear in a separate line, so you can see why they are missing.

If you enter the space available in millimetres, each manufacturer minimum is marked sufficient or not sufficient. The comparison is exact to 0.1 mm: a space equal to the minimum is sufficient, 0.1 mm less is not. The guide compares numbers only; it does not judge the preparation.

What is shown for each material

Four facts from the IFU: the indications, the minimum thickness for the chosen restoration (with connector cross-sections for bridges), the pretreatment of the restoration surface (etching time and acid concentration, air abrasion, primer) and the cementation methods the manufacturer allows. Every value carries the product, the revision or date of the IFU and the page, with a link to the manufacturer's PDF.

The guide does not give recommendations of its own, does not choose between materials and does not reproduce contraindications or limitations of use. These are in the IFU, which remains authoritative.

Which materials are included

IPS e.max Press and IPS e.max CAD (lithium disilicate), IPS Empress CAD (leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic), IPS e.max ZirCAD Prime and MT (zirconia), CERASMART 270 and BRILLIANT Crios (CAD/CAM blocks). G-ænial Universal Injectable appears as a direct composite with an excerpt of its indications. Only materials whose manufacturer's instructions for use were verified are listed; materials whose IFU we could not check are left out rather than shown with uncertain values.

Where the values come from

Each IFU was downloaded from the manufacturer and read on the stated page. Short verbatim quotes from each document are checked automatically against the PDF; values that the IFU shows only in drawings were read on the rendered page. Where two IFUs of the same manufacturer differ, as for the minimum wall thickness of IPS e.max ZirCAD posterior crowns and three-unit bridges, both values are shown with their sources. Manufacturers revise their instructions; the versions checked are listed at the end of the page.