Dental Porcelain Furnaces: How to Choose.

A porcelain furnace, a press furnace, and a zirconia sintering furnace are three machines that catalogs file in one corner of the lab. Pressing a glass-ceramic ingot, firing layered porcelain, and sintering zirconia are not the same cycle. A press furnace will not sinter a zirconia crown. Furnace trays and pillows are a separate accessory list: furnace trays and pillows.

The mill guide is the machine that cuts the restoration. This page is the oven that finishes it.

How to choose a porcelain furnace

• Name the material first. Pressed glass-ceramic needs a press furnace and the pressing program for that ingot. Layered porcelain needs a firing furnace and vacuum. Milled zirconia needs a sintering furnace and that zirconia maker’s cycle. One box rarely does all three well. If the quote says “furnace,” ask which of those three it is.
• Use the ceramic maker’s program. Temperature, hold, and vacuum come from the instructions for that porcelain or that zirconia, not from a generic cycle stored as “crown.” This page does not print a firing chart. Load the program the material’s maker publishes for that furnace, or confirm the furnace can store it.
• Vacuum, muffle, and calibration. Porcelain firing expects a vacuum pump that actually pulls. A press furnace expects a muffle that fits the ring size you use. A sintering furnace expects a chamber rated for that zirconia’s cycle. Ask when the furnace was last calibrated, and who does the next one.
• Chairside or lab. A small crystallization oven next to a chairside mill is a different purchase from a lab press that runs all day. Match the furnace to where the restoration is finished, not to the largest brochure photo.
• Trays are not the furnace. Firing pads, pins, and pillows are consumables. They do not choose the cycle. Buy them for the furnace you already own.

How the furnace lines differ

Treat the table as product differences, not a score. Do not compare a press furnace with a sintering furnace as if they were two prices for the same job.

Line	What that box is for	Best fit	Watch for
Ivoclar Programat	A family: press models, firing models, and separate sintering models	Labs and chairside mills already on Ivoclar ceramics	The model letter matters. A press Programat is not the sintering Programat
Dekema	Lab porcelain and press furnaces	A lab that fires and presses all day and wants a dedicated lab oven	Confirm vacuum and the ring size. It is not a zirconia sinter by default
Whip Mix	Press furnaces used for pressed ceramics	A lab adding pressable glass-ceramic without replacing the whole oven room	Pressing is the job. Sintering zirconia is still another furnace
Mihm-Vogt	Sintering furnaces for zirconia	A lab milling zirconia that needs a sinter cycle, not a porcelain press	Follow the zirconia maker’s cycle. A porcelain vacuum program does not belong on this unit

Ivoclar Programat

Programat is a family, not one oven. Pressing models press glass-ceramic. Other Programat models crystallize or sinter. Read the model, then read the Ivoclar program for the ingot or the zirconia you actually use. A chairside crystallization oven next to a mill is a smaller machine than a lab press. Quote the one that matches the restorations you finish in that room.

Dekema

Dekema’s Austromat line is a lab furnace for porcelain firing and pressing. Choose it when the lab’s work is conventional ceramic and pressable ingots, and when you want that oven’s vacuum and muffle rather than a chairside box. Ask which ring sizes the muffle accepts. Do not plan on it as the zirconia sinter unless the specific model is sold for that cycle.

Whip Mix

Whip Mix press furnaces are for pressed ceramics. The buying question is the ring size and whether the programs for your ingot brand can be stored. It does not replace a sintering furnace for milled zirconia. If the lab does both, the quote is two machines.

A zirconia sintering furnace

Mihm-Vogt is the sintering side of this decision: an oven for zirconia, not for pressing porcelain. Ivoclar also sells sintering models inside the Programat family. Either way, load the cycle the zirconia manufacturer publishes. A faster “speed” program is only acceptable when that zirconia’s instructions include it. Trays and beads for sintering are consumables, the same way firing trays are consumables for a porcelain oven.

Related guides

• CAD/CAM and lab
• Dental mills
• Dental 3D printers

Furnace questions

Can one furnace press porcelain and sinter zirconia?

Treat them as different machines until the spec sheet for that exact model lists both cycles and your material’s maker approves its program on that model. A press furnace and a sintering furnace are the normal pair in a lab that does both.

Where do the temperatures come from?

From the instructions packed with the ceramic or the zirconia, for the furnace you own. A cycle copied from a different porcelain is how you get a failed press. This guide does not publish a chart.

Are firing trays part of the furnace?

No. Pins, pads, and pillows wear out. Replace them. They do not change which furnace you should have bought.