Early Adopters: Grandio blocs

For Jeffrey W. Horowitz, DMD, FAGD, there are 5 essential qualities that must be considered when selecting a restorative material: strength, resilience, bonding ability, esthetics, and convenience. VOCO’s Grandio blocs—offering natural esthetics with enhanced color stability and polish retention, toothlike elasticity, easy polishability, and no need for firing—seemed to represent the ideal solution for successful restorations. Here, Dr. Horowitz discusses his experience with Grandio blocs.

Time is precious, and as every dentist knows, quadrant and full-arch dentistry with indirect restoratives can be very time-consuming. If you’re not milling in-office, you’re spending significant time on temporization, waiting on the lab to return the case, repeating anesthesia, and doing preparation cleanup after temp removal. If you are milling in-office, you’re spending time waiting for the required ceramic firing after milling.

While traditional composite blocks may not require firing, they raise concerns about strength, esthetics, and the ability to achieve a sustainable polish. This scenario has been a dilemma for dentists, but VOCO offers a clear answer with Grandio blocs, according to Jeffrey W. Horowitz, DMD, FAGD. “With Grandio blocs, we get the forgiveness and time savings of a composite block along with the beauty and polish of a ceramic material,” Dr. Horowitz said.

The nano-ceramic hybrid CAD/CAM blocks are 86% filled for maximum strength and wear resistance, and offer natural esthetics with enhanced color stability and polish retention. Having been pleased with the quality of other VOCO products, Dr. Horowitz was eager to try Grandio blocs. “It certainly exceeded my expectations, and it will continue in my formulary as an option for onlays, crowns over natural teeth, and implant crowns.”

Because of their nano-ceramic filler, Grandio blocs are able to achieve a sustained high-luster finish with simple polishing, which Dr. Horowitz said makes it a very desirable product. He said the other attribute that makes it a great restorative choice is a similar modulus of elasticity to that of natural tooth structure, making it suitable over implants and in bite rehabilitation cases.

Dr. Horowitz said he would recommend Grandio blocs not just for their strength and esthetics, but also for their convenience and resilience.

“To all of my colleagues who are now milling in their practices, you should absolutely give Grandio blocs a try,” he said. “For those considering making the investment in milling technology, this product makes the return on investment for in-office milling much more attractive without compromising quality or esthetics. Finally, for those who just don’t want to mill in their office, ask your laboratory to create Grandio blocs restorations for your patients and see for yourself how versatile this material can be.”