Method of masking a dental support structure of a dental prosthesis made of highly translucent ceramic material

A method for masking a dental substructure through a highly translucent yttria-stabilized zirconia dental restoration, comprising:

• i. obtaining a masking mixture comprising 0.4 wt % to 50 wt % of one or more masking components that comprise Zn, Ti, Al, La, Mg, Sc, Si, Sr or Ca;
• ii. obtaining a porous ceramic body in the shape of a dental restoration comprising an internal surface and a facial surface comprising an overlying region opposite the internal surface and wherein the ceramic body comprises zirconia stabilized with 3 mol % yttria to 8 mol % yttria having a transmittance between 45% to 80% at 700 nm (when tested on a 1 mm thick sintered body);
• iii. applying the masking mixture to the internal surface to form an inner masking surface to mask a substructure;
• iv. applying the masking mixture to the overlying region opposite the inner masking surface to form an outer masking surface;
• and
• v. sintering the porous ceramic body to obtain a fully sintered ceramic body having a density that is at least 98% of the theoretical density, wherein the fully sintered ceramic body has a perceptual lightness (L*) value of at least 75 at a location that is on a centerline of the overlying region of the ceramic body and that is 69% of a distance from an incisal edge toward a gingival margin, and wherein perceptual lightness is measured using a SpectroShade® Micro II spectrophotometer.