An 11-year clinical evaluation of leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic crowns: a retrospective study.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study was to retrospectively evaluate leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic crowns placed over a 6-year period at two different private dental practices.


METHODS
One hundred twenty-five Empress crowns were placed in 54 patients. The 93 anterior and 32 posterior crowns were evaluated clinically with a mirror and probe, radiographically, and from clinical photographs, in accordance with a modified California Dental Association and Ryge quality evaluation system. The risk of fracture was determined with the Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.


RESULTS
Crowns were studied over periods ranging from 4 to 11 years. The probability of survival of the 125 crowns was 95.2% at 11 years (98.9% in the anterior segment and 84.4% in the posterior segment). Six crowns had to be replaced. Most of the 119 successful crowns were rated excellent; Alfa ratings were assigned to 94.2% for color match, 91.6% for porcelain surface, 86.6% for marginal discoloration, and 94.2% for marginal integrity.


CONCLUSIONS
Leucite-reinforced glass-ceramic crowns showed a low clinical failure rate and excellent esthetics after up to 11 years.
Fradeani
Mauro
M
Department of Prosthodontics, Louisiana State University, School of Dentistry, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. maurofradeani@netco.it
Redemagni
Marco
M
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000538:Aluminum Silicates / Q000737:chemistry*; D002516:Ceramics / Q000737:chemistry*; D003116:Color; D003442:Crowns; D003776:Dental Porcelain / Q000737:chemistry; D017267:Dental Prosthesis Design; D019232:Dental Restoration Failure; D004955:Esthetics, Dental; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D005898:Glass / Q000737:chemistry*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011336:Probability; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013499:Surface Properties; D016019:Survival Analysis
D000538:Aluminum Silicates; C075815:IPS-Empress ceramic; D003776:Dental Porcelain; C078519:leucite