The marginal gaps of lithium disilicate crowns constructed by different scanner and milling unit combinations.

BACKGROUND

The purpose of this study was to compare the marginal gaps of CAD/CAM lithium disilicate (LDS) crowns constructed using three different scanner and milling unit combinations.

METHODS

Twenty-four Columbia model lower left molars were prepared for LDS crowns by undergraduate students in a simulated environment. One LDS crown was constructed for each crown preparation using each of the following intraoral scanner/milling unit combinations: TRIOS 3 scanner/E4D milling unit (TRIO/E4DM); TRIOS 3 scanner/Sirona inLab MC X5 milling unit (TRIO/MCX5); E4D scanner/E4D milling unit (E4DS/E4DM). The crowns were seated onto the original crown preparations and three vertical marginal gap measurements taken at four locations (mid-buccal, mid-lingual, mid-mesial and mid-distal) using a stereomicroscope. The mean marginal gap (MMG) was calculated for each crown and each individual tooth surface.

RESULTS

The TRIO/MCX5 scanner/milling unit combination produced the smallest MMG of 63.73 ± 47.38 μm followed by E4DS/E4DM (88.64 ± 106.51 μm) and TRIO/E4DM (107.41 ± 76.47 μm). There was a significant effect of milling unit (p < 0.0001) on MMG but no significant effect of scanner (p = 0.070) or location (p = 0.182).

CONCLUSIONS

The newer scanner/milling unit combination produced LDS crowns with the smallest MMG. All scanner/milling unit combinations produced LDS crowns within a clinically acceptable MMG.