The Effect of Thermal Stress on the Marginal Seal of Cast Gold Full Crowns

Abstract

An experiment was conducted to observe the effect of fluctuations in temperature on the marginal seal of full veneer cast gold crowns. Forty crowns were fabricated and allotted into two groups of 20 crowns each. One group was cemented with zinc phosphate and the other group, with zinc polycarboxylate cement. Ten crowns from each group were subjected to thermal stress of fluctuating temperatures (4 and 60 C) and the remaining ten crowns from each group were held at the constant temperature of 37 +/- 1 C. The experiment demonstrated the following results: --Microleakage was evident in all groups. --The degree of microleakage with zinc phosphate was less than with zinc polycarboxylate cement. --Contrary to the claim that zinc polycarboxylate cement adheres to enamel through chelation, we were unable to observe better results. The degree of penetration of dye in the tooth-cement interfaces of crowns cemented with zinc polycarboxylate was not less despite the remaining layers of enamel for bonding. The cause of microleakage with cast gold restorations is apparently multifactorial. Research should formulate a luting agent which forms a strong bond to gold alloy and tooth substrate and has a high tensile and shearing strength.