---
title: "What Is Zirconia? Dental Glossary | Town Center Dental"
description: "Zirconia is a very hard white ceramic made from zirconium dioxide that dentists use for crowns, bridges, and implant parts."
url: https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/zirconia
publisher: Town Center Dental
phone: +1-636-273-5866
quote: https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/request-appointment
---

Materials

# Zirconia

Zirconia is a very hard white ceramic made from zirconium dioxide that dentists use for crowns, bridges, and implant parts.

Zirconia is a ceramic, not a metal. It is white, so it can be shaded to look like a tooth. A review in the NIH library calls it a material of choice in contemporary restorative dentistry and notes its toughness, strength, and resistance to wear. Labs often cut a zirconia [crown](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-crown) from a solid block with a milling machine, using a digital scan of your tooth. Because it is so hard, your dentist checks your bite so it does not wear the teeth that meet it. Zirconia is one of several choices. Others include [lithium disilicate](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/lithium-disilicate-e-max) and [porcelain](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/porcelain). See our [dental crown](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/services/dental-crown) page.

[Town Center Dental can helpDental Crown](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/services/dental-crown)

## Related terms

-   [Lithium disilicate (e.max)](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/lithium-disilicate-e-max)
-   [Porcelain](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/porcelain)
-   [Dental crown](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/dental-crown)
-   [Implant crown](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/implant-crown)
-   [CAD/CAM dentistry](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/glossary/cad-cam-dentistry)

## Sources

1.  [NIH PubMed Central: Zirconia as a Dental Biomaterial](https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5455532/)

## Ready when you are

[Request an appointment](https://towncenterdental.multisites.ai/request-appointment)[Call (636) 273-5866](tel:+1-636-273-5866)