Fitting accuracy of ceramic veneered Co-Cr crowns produced by different manufacturing processes

PURPOSE: The purpose of this in vitro study was to evaluate the fitting accuracy of single crowns made from a novel presintered Co-Cr alloy prepared with a computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) technique, as compared with crowns manufactured by other digital and the conventional casting technique. Additionally, the influence of oxide layer on the fitting accuracy of specimens was tested. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 40 test specimens made from Co-Cr alloy were investigated according to the fitting accuracy using a replica technique. Four different methods processing different materials were used for the manufacture of the crown copings (milling of presintered (Ceramill Sintron-group_cer_sin) or rigid alloy (Tizian NEM-group_ti_nem), selective laser melting (Ceramill NPL-group_cer_npl), and casting (Girobond NB-group_gir_nb)). The specimens were adapted to a resin model and the outer surfaces were airborne-particle abraded with aluminum oxide. After the veneering process, the fitting accuracy (absolute marginal discrepancy and internal gap) was evaluated by the replica technique in 2 steps, before removing the oxide layer from the intaglio surface of the crowns, and after removing the layer with aluminum oxide airborne-particle abrasion. Statistical analysis was performed by multifactorial analysis of variance (ANOVA) (α=.05). RESULTS: Mean absolute marginal discrepancy ranged between 20 µm (group_cer_npl for specimens of Ceramill NPL) and 43 µm (group_cer_sin for crowns of Ceramill Sintron) with the oxide layer and between 19 µm and 28 µm without the oxide layer. The internal gap varied between 33 µm (group_ti_nem for test samples of Tizian NEM) and 75 µm (group_gir_nb for the base material Girobond NB) with the oxide layer and between 30 µm and 76 µm without the oxide layer. The absolute marginal discrepancy and the internal gap were significantly influenced by the fabrication method used (P<.05). CONCLUSION: Different manufacturing techniques had a significant influence on the fitting accuracy of single crowns made from Co-Cr alloys. However, all tested crowns showed a clinically acceptable absolute marginal discrepancy and internal gap with and without oxide layer and could be recommended under clinical considerations. Especially, the new system Ceramill Sintron showed acceptable values of fitting accuracy so it can be suggested in routine clinical work.