Nearly every pediatric clinician surveyed this year expects zirconia crown use to rise, but far fewer are placing them today. A 2026 benchmark report drawn from 161 in-person responses from pediatric dentists, residents and dental team members at the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry Annual Session found that 94 percent expect zirconia use to keep increasing, while 64 percent still reserve it for a quarter or fewer of their cases.
Parent preference for esthetics is doing much of the work behind that expectation. The report examines the distance between what clinicians anticipate and what they actually place, and whether the factors holding adoption back are clinical, financial or educational.
To keep the findings grounded, clinician-reported adoption is benchmarked against independent insurance-claim data rather than sentiment alone. The result is a clear read on where zirconia use sits today, how it shifts with payer mix and what is most likely to move it.
Inside the report:
- Clinician-reported adoption trends, benchmarked against independent insurance-claim data
- The four leading barriers to wider zirconia use, ranked by clinicians
- How Medicaid reimbursement changes the adoption calculus in mixed-payer practices
- Where the resident training pipeline is falling behind current demand