Dentist suggested Porcelain as crown material for a molar tooth, is this unusual?

[ToothPatient]

We tried full gold initially, but it was milled imperfectly in the lab, and the slanted part of the internal palatal cusp was "high" and causing an awkward bite, but he was unable to stain it effectively with blue paper with it being so smooth/polished and on a slanted surface, so couldn't adjust it.

So he cut it off and did another scan, and suggested we use porcelain as he felt that is easier to stain using blue paper and he could adjust it if needs be on the repeat.

I completely jumped at the suggestion of porcelain on a molar tooth, and when I pressed this, he said that "zirconia was a form of porcelain".......... which I know it's not.

I honestly think he might try and fit a porcelain crown, but pass it off as zirconia, just to get this job done cause it's been dragging on for so long.

Very polished gold surface on gold crowns is obviously difficult to stain as it was in my case; is zirconia easier to stain using blue paper, than gold?

And is a full porcelain crown something that even can be used, or is commonly used, on molar teeth (upper left 2nd molar)?

When I see the crown before it gets fit, would there be a way I could tell it apart if it's porcelain, and not zirconia?

 

[Dr M]

Porcelain and zirconia is not the same material. Both porcelain and zirconia crowns, do allow conservative preparation of the tooth though. I have seen patients with porcelain on molars, although you cannot adjust them as much. Adjustments on porcelain can cause the porcelain to chip or even allow the metal base to become visible, which produces an unaesthetic end result. For molars, I would recommend zirconia. Make sure the dentist uses zirconia before final cementation.