Investigation of the effect of three sprue designs on the porosity and the completeness of titanium cast removable partial denture frameworks.
BACKGROUND
Although titanium has been used to cast removable partial denture frameworks, the casting process is arduous and requires specialized equipment.


OBJECTIVE
This study evaluated the ability of 3 sprue designs (tree, ball, and circular) to produce complete, void-free castings of removable partial denture frameworks made from commercially pure titanium.


METHODS
A cast with a Kennedy class III, modification 1, partially edentulous arch was used. The blocked-out cast was modified to facilitate assessment of the completeness of the casting of the clasp arms. Thirty refractory casts were made, and 10 wax patterns for each sprue design were fabricated and invested with ethyl silicate investment. Castings were made with an arc-type automatic casting machine in an argon atmosphere. Castings were examined with radiographic equipment to detect the presence of voids in the castings, and the completeness to each casting was visually verified. Data on porosities were tabulated and statistically analyzed with 1-way ANOVA followed by Student Newman-Keuls test. Chi-square analysis was used to identify statistically significant differences in casting defects among the 3 sprue designs.


RESULTS
No statistically significant differences in the total number of porosities were found between the 3 sprue designs (P =.51). Results of completeness of castings evaluated by using chi-square test revealed a statistically significant deference among the 3 sprue designs (P =.008).


CONCLUSIONS
The ball-sprue design produced the most complete castings for the removable partial denture titanium frameworks.
al-Mesmar
H S
HS
Boston University, Goldman School of Dental Medicine, Boston, Mass. 02118, USA.
Morgano
S M
SM
Mark
L E
LE
D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003722:Dental Alloys / Q000737:chemistry*; D003735:Dental Casting Technique / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019232:Dental Restoration Failure; D003779:Denture Design / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003832:Denture, Partial, Removable / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D003765:Models, Dental; D016062:Porosity; D014025:Titanium / Q000737:chemistry*
D003722:Dental Alloys; D014025:Titanium