As digital workflows continue to redefine implant dentistry, clinicians are looking for restorative materials that not only deliver strength and esthetics but also integrate seamlessly into an increasingly connected treatment process. From digital diagnosis and guided surgery to chairside fabrication, every component of the workflow contributes to predictable outcomes. For many practitioners, including Daniel Vasquez, DDS, KATANA™ Zirconia ONE for IMPLANT has become an important part of that equation.
Designed for use within a complete chairside CAD/CAM workflow, KATANA Zirconia ONE for IMPLANT from Kuraray enables clinicians to fabricate screw-retained implant restorations while maintaining the efficiency and precision of a digital restorative process. For Vasquez, who has incorporated digital dentistry into his San Diego practice for nearly two decades, the material represents more than another restorative option—it extends a treatment philosophy centered on restorative-driven implant planning, biologic respect, and long-term predictability.
“My experience with KATANA zirconia does not begin with the implant block,” Vasquez says. “It has developed through many years of incorporating these materials into my chairside CEREC® workflow.”
Having used earlier generations of KATANA zirconia extensively for indirect restorations, he viewed the introduction of KATANA Zirconia ONE for IMPLANT as a natural progression. According to Vasquez, the material brings together the characteristics he has come to expect from the KATANA family—such as multilayered esthetics, precise fit, polishability, and workflow efficiency—while allowing those same advantages to be applied to implant-supported restorations.
“What impresses me most is how naturally the implant block integrates into the CEREC ecosystem I already use,” he says. “I can maintain control of the complete restorative process—from accurate digital capture and design to fabrication, TiBase assembly, verification, and delivery.”
That integration reflects Vasquez’s broader philosophy that successful implant treatment begins long before surgery. Rather than placing an implant first and designing the restoration afterward, he advocates designing the definitive restoration before determining implant position.
“Once I know where the crown belongs, I position the implant underneath it to support that restoration,” he explains.
This restorative-first approach forms the basis of what he calls the Vasquez Broadway Protocol—a comprehensive digital workflow in which diagnosis, restorative design, guided surgery, and final restoration are coordinated before treatment begins.
“The day of surgery is not the day to begin making the plan,” he says. “It is the day to execute a plan that has already been carefully developed.”
Within that workflow, material selection becomes an extension of treatment planning rather than an isolated decision. Vasquez says KATANA Zirconia ONE for IMPLANT supports his goal of producing restorations that satisfy both biologic and esthetic requirements.
“My clinical philosophy is that an implant restoration has two surfaces—and two responsibilities,” he says. “Below the tissue, I want a highly polished zirconia surface designed to respect biology. Above the tissue, I want a restoration that functions and appears like a natural tooth.”
“Ultimately, I am not simply delivering an implant crown. I am delivering a tooth-like restoration designed to respect the tissue beneath it, integrate naturally with the patient’s smile, and function as part of the complete oral environment,” he summarizes.
Vasquez credits the material’s multilayered zirconia structure with providing a natural esthetic foundation while allowing additional characterization when individual cases require it. Equally important, he suggests, is maintaining a meticulously polished transmucosal surface to support favorable soft-tissue response.
Efficiency, however, is not simply about shortening appointment times. “True efficiency means reducing unnecessary variables,” Vasquez says. “It means using a workflow that my entire team understands and can reproduce consistently.”
By incorporating KATANA Zirconia ONE for IMPLANT into an established digital workflow using a Primescan intraoral scanner, CEREC software, Primemill milling unit, SpeedFire sintering furnace, compatible TiBases, and PANAVIA™ resin cement systems, he says his team follows standardized protocols from digital impression through final delivery. That consistency supports not only efficient treatment but also repeatable clinical outcomes.
Vasquez points out that, for patients, the benefits extend beyond technology itself. Once implant healing is complete, many definitive restorations can be designed, fabricated, and delivered during a single restorative appointment. Patients, he says, frequently observe the digital design process, watch their restoration being milled, and become active participants in their treatment.
“They are no longer simply waiting for a product,” he notes. “They are participating in the creation of their restoration.”
After delivery, he often asks his patients a simple question regarding the restoration: “How does it feel? When the response is, ‘It feels perfect,’ that moment is priceless,” he says. “Many patients tell me it looks like a real tooth. That is exactly what I want—not something that merely fills a space, but a restoration that belongs in the patient’s mouth.”
Those are the moments, Vasquez says, that reinforce his belief that predictable implant therapy outcomes result from a combination of factors, including careful diagnosis, restorative planning, biologic principles, disciplined clinical protocols, and materials like KATANA Zirconia ONE for IMPLANT that support those objectives.
He also emphasizes that even with advanced digital technologies, sound clinical judgment can never be replaced.
“The block cannot correct an incorrectly positioned implant, inaccurate digital impression, poor design, or inadequate occlusal planning,” he advises. “Knowledge and fundamentals come first. Technology enhances clinical judgment; it does not replace it.”
As digital implant workflows continue to evolve, Vasquez believes clinicians will increasingly seek restorative materials that integrate naturally into comprehensive treatment systems rather than merely function as standalone products. For him, KATANA Zirconia ONE for IMPLANT represents that evolution—helping translate a carefully planned digital workflow into a restoration that is strong, esthetic, biologically respectful, and designed for long-term success.
“It is not just about using a new block,” he says. “It is about using technology with purpose to deliver the highest-quality restoration and experience possible for the patient.”
Daniel Vasquez, DDS
Private Practice, Oceanside, California; Fellow, International Congress of Oral Implantologists
Kuraray
800-879-1676
kuraray.com
