Holographic evaluation of the marginal fit of complete crowns loaded at central fossa

In dentistry, the defect of cementation on the margins of crowns accumulates bacterial plaque easily. This can result in recurrent caries and periodontal disease. In this paper holographic interferometry is applied to study the effect of masticatory force on various complete crowns. Four complete molar crowns made from different casting materials (Au, Pd-Ag, Ni-Cr, and PFM) were tested. The horizontal displacements of two points near the margin, measured by the method of multiple observations, could be as large as 15 micrometers under normal load (25 kgw). However, the marginal discrepancy of all four crowns estimated were quite small (< 0.2 micrometers ). This also indicates that the cementation between the crown and the tooth is quite good. Nevertheless, when the load was increased to 45 kgw, a defect of cementation was found on the Pd-Ag crown.