Radiological evaluation of stainless steel crowns placed on permanent teeth in patients treated under general anaesthesia

Abstract

Evidence-based evaluations of dental treatment are needed to support the development of special care dentistry services. This retrospective study was designed to collect and analyse X-ray images of permanent teeth restored with stainless steel crowns (SSC) in patients treated under general anaesthesia. Between 2013 and 2019, 360 permanent molars were crowned with SSCs in 198 adult patients. One calibrated investigator used an original validated tool to evaluate four radiographic criteria for molars restored with SSCs: i) marginal adaptation; ii) interdental proximal con-tact; iii) the presence of glass ionomer cement overflow; and iv) the loss of alveolar bone. Overall, no defect or a minor defect was reported for the majority of SSCs for the criteria “Marginal adapta-tion” (62.5%, n = 320), “Proximal contact” (82.2%, n = 236) and “Cement overflow” (95.8%, n = 337). Alveolar bone resorption was reported in 8.3% of cases, n = 14, after a mean period of 8.9 ± 14.3 months. It was shown that the restoration of permanent teeth using SSCs placed under general anaesthesia presents a low risk of periodontal morbidity in the medium term when assessed radio-graphically.