Fatigue and 3-D wear resistance of Fiberglass versus Stainless steel crowns for restoration of primary teeth.

Abstract

Abstract: Objectives: To compare and evaluate fatigue, fracture resistance, 3-D wear of a new pediatric fiberglass crowns. “Figaro” versus the conventional stainless steel crowns. Study Design: A total of 24 primary posterior crowns were used in this study: 12 Figaro crowns and 12 stainless steel crowns were cemented using glass ionomer cement on standardized prepared acrylic resin dies. All crowns were subjected to fatigue by cyclic loading using ACTA type chewing simulator (250,000 cycles with 200 N load under water). 3-D images were obtained before and after fatigue using a digital scanner, and the images were superimposed using Exocad software to detect any surface wear in each specimen after the cyclic load. Finally, all specimens were axially loaded till fracture using a universal testing machine (α=0.05). Results: Figaro crowns showed a significantly higher amount of wear and deformity compared to stainless steel crowns which demonstrated negligible amount of wear and preserved its anatomy (t=18.7, P<0.01). The Figaro crowns showed a significantly lower fracture resistant values compared to stainless steel crowns (t=14.57, P<0.001). Recommendation: clinical studies are needed to evaluate the durability and survival rates of these new fiberglass crowns in children.