Reliability estimation for single-unit ceramic crown restorations

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of a survival prediction method for the assessment of ceramic dental restorations. for this purpose,fast-fracture and fatigue reliabilities for 2 bilayer (metal ceramic alloy core veneered with fluorapatite leucite glass-ceramic,d.sign/d.sign-67,by ivoclar; glass-infiltrated alumina core veneered with feldspathic porcelain,vm7/in-ceram alumina,by vita) and 3 monolithic (leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic,empress,and procad,by ivoclar; lithium-disilicate glass-ceramic,empress 2,by ivoclar) single posterior crown restorations were predicted,and fatigue predictions were compared with the long-term clinical data presented in the literature. both perfectly bonded and completely debonded cases were analyzed for evaluation of the influence of the adhesive/restoration bonding quality on estimations. material constants and stress distributions required for predictions were calculated from biaxial tests and finite element analysis,respectively. based on the predictions,in-ceram alumina presents the best fast-fracture resistance,and procad presents a comparable resistance for perfect bonding; however,procad shows a significant reduction of resistance in case of complete debonding. nevertheless,it is still better than empress and comparable with empress 2. in-ceram alumina and d.sign have the highest long-term reliability,with almost 100% survivability even after 10 years. when compared with clinical failure rates reported in the literature,predictions show a promising match with clinical data,and this indicates the soundness of the settings used in the proposed predictions. © international & american associations for dental research.