Radiographic inspection of dental castings.
Underdimensioning may adversely affect the clinical use of a crown or bridge. Insufficient dimensions may be due to inadequate modelling or deficiencies caused by the casting process. The dimensions of cast objects are measured mechanically using a calliper. This method has often proved to be insufficient in detecting areas of too small dimensions. This paper presents a non-destructive method of inspecting dental castings using radiography. The occlusal thickness of a random sample of 150 crowns made during regular clinical treatment in our department was inspected mechanically and radiographically. We found that 19% of the crowns were only 0.1 mm thick or less at the thinnest spot, 18% were between 0.1 and 0.2 mm and 9% were between 0.2 and 0.3 mm. In comparison to mechanical examination, radiographic inspection usually showed smaller values.
Medical University Hannover, Department of Prosthetic Dentistry, Germany.
M
M
Eisenburger
H
H
Tschernitschek
D003442:Crowns; D003735:Dental Casting Technique / Q000592:standards*; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design / Q000379:methods; D003830:Denture, Partial, Fixed; D011786:Quality Control; D011861:Radiography, Dental