There’s creativity in technique, just as much as there is science and precision. This two-part session from Dental Technology Showcase 2026 exemplified that. Dental technician Dora Rodrigues, owner of ID Dental Studio and independent certified exocad trainer, and Alina Cecian, MiYO instructor at Zenith Labs, guided delegates through practical demonstrations of full-arch cases using exocad software, and the application of MiYO Liquid Ceramics to enhance aesthetic outcomes on All-on-X restorations. 

Exocad: versatility and efficiency 

Rodrigues took delegates through exocad’s ‘hidden’ tools to transform a design workflow. The tooth position was a significant part of this, with Rodrigues stating that if the initial design setup is configured correctly, the software recognises a previous design and allows the same position to be reused without redesigning from scratch – saving time and enabling greater customisation. 

Users can also build a personal library of saved tooth moulds for future cases. “You’re not just using one tooth mould all the time,” said Rodrigues. “We’re talking about several moulds that you like, with nice texture.” For time-consuming double-arch cases, this removes the need to redesign from scratch each time.  

exocad also allows users to swap implant parts, jaw scans, bar structures and screw types within the same scene, and its wax-up functionality lets users import a double wax-up scan, extract teeth and add them to an existing design – with a face scan option available too. 

Rodrigues recommended keeping the workflow simple by staying under the ‘digital copy milling’ option. Stage one involves designing the case before surgery, capturing tissue records and implant position before aligning the data to finish. Stage two uses ‘automatic wax-up’ with the lower restoration in bite implant position. The key difference between the two is that the implant library option moves to the middle of the workflow – a structure that, as Rodrigues put it, “works for every single case.”  

Version 3.3 also allows the designed bar to be sent directly to manufacturers for milling, available in both DentalCAD and PartialCAD – the latter being Rodrigues’ preferred option, describing it as “simple; five steps and you’re done.” 

MiYO: artistry and technique 

Cecian’s aim was to break the myth that a monolithic restoration cannot look natural. “It all starts with the right foundation,” she says. “Everything else just follows – not just easily, but beautifully.” That foundation means getting the design, staining and laying materials right, and understanding that anatomy and occlusion are not just aesthetic concerns. Proper foundations prevent fractures, wear and failures, and deliver what Cecian describes as “superior patient outcomes”. 

MiYO Liquid Ceramic is more than 80% ceramic and just 20% pigment – compared to other materials that Cecian says tend to be over 50% pigment, blocking light as a result. The system consists of colour and structure pastes: colour options include translucent, semi-translucent and opaque self-glazing, which allow the user to float wet colour on top of wet colour without mixing, “so that every detail… can be achieved in one application.” The translucent building pastes allow shapes and surface texture to be built with a brush in ultra-thin layers of between 0.1mm and 0.2mm. 

Cecian demonstrated a previous restoration, encouraging technicians to mix colours freely – a technique she feels is underused. For gingival colour especially, she urged variety over uniformity; less “one plain colour applied everywhere” and more creative layering. Her application method – colour with a honey-like texture, applied with a ‘dab and drag’ rather than brushing, glaze in parallel motion with a larger brush, translucency built using ‘smoke’ colour with ‘grey cobalt’ on top – produced a restoration completed in just two firings. 

Her closing message was as clean as the work itself: “Make it look like a tooth, and not a restoration.” 

Join us later this year for more sessions like this. Register your interest for the Dentistry Show London  2026 across 9-10 October at Excel London.