How to treat veneering porcelain chipping of fixed dental restorations?

This summary is based on the article published by the Journal of the American Dental Association: Intraoral treatment of veneering porcelain chipping of fixed dental restorations. A review and clinical application (February 2013)

Context

Every dental ceramic system can experience failure of the veneering porcelain. However,the increasing popularity of all-ceramic crowns and fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) seems to have led to an increasing need to repair chipped veneering porcelain.

Purpose of the Review

The authors compared different methods to repair fractured ceramic restorations (porcelain-fused-to-metal and all-ceramic) and explain the basic principles of adhesion in these systems. They also evaluated the frequency and causes of failure in dental ceramic systems.

Key Messages

Because of differences in the material composition of ceramic systems (composed of metal, alumina or zirconia, glass-ceramics and feldspathic ceramics), different treatments are required for the exposed material surfaces after chipping. Use of hydrofluoric acid etching, air abrasion, tribochemical coating, silanization and metal primers or zirconia primers seem to be the most successful conditioning methods for durable bonding and repair. 

Clinical Implications

Intraoral repair of a restoration offers a satisfying option for the patient when the restoration cannot be removed or replaced. Its success depends largely on the conditioning methods used for the fractured surfaces.  

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