All-ceramic crowns.

Despite the good appearance and biocompatibility of dental porcelains, failures are still of considerable concern because of some limited properties common to all-ceramic crown systems. As in the years before, pertinent scientific articles published between November 1990 and December 1991 focused on strengthening mechanisms and compared fracture toughness for different ceramic systems by using various test methods. Some evaluated the clinical implications thereon for seating and loading crowns and measured wear against different ceramic surface conditions. Recently introduced with pleasing aesthetic qualities, IPS-Empress (Ivoclar, Schaan, Liechtenstein), a new European leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic, has finally drawn attention in some journals and has been reviewed with promising in vitro test results. Using a simple press-molding technique, well-fitting crowns, inlays, and veneers can be fabricated without an additional ceramming procedure. Again, only long-term clinical trials will validate achievements compared with other all-ceramic systems and with well-established metal ceramics.