COMPARISON OF INTER-PROIMAL CONTACT BETWEEN ALL-METAL CROWN VS PORCELAIN FUSED TO METAL CROWN IN POSTERIOR TEETH. A COMPARATIVE CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY

Objectives: The objective of this study was to evaluate the frequency of loose nter-Proimal Contacts (PC) in All-Metal and PFM crowns and to determine association of loose PC with age, gender, dental arch, surface of crown, duration of crown and type of crown. Materials and Methods: This comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in Prosthodontic department of Khyber College of Dentistry, Peshawar, Pakistan. Files records of patients for the last 11 years, who received single crown or as retainer for fied partial denture for posterior teeth and had follow up visit for the evaluation of inter-proimal contact (PC) between crown and adjacent tooth/teeth were included. Type of crown was divided into two groups; All-metal and Porcelain fused to metal (PFM) crown. Outcome measure that is, type of PC was labeled as Acceptable and loose. Frequencies, chi-square and ogistic regression analysis was used to determine prevalence, association and strength of association of PCs with age, gender, arch, surface, duration and type of crown. Results: There were 150 crowns related to 100 patients. The mean age of patients was 45.112.1 years. Out of 150 crowns, 9 (65.3) were PFM and 52 (34.6) were All-metal crowns, leading to the assessment of 29 PCs on proimal surfaces. Among 29 PCs, 194 (69.5) were acceptable and 5 (30.5) were loose. Among PFM crowns, 36.6 of PCs were loose comparing to 20.2 in metal crowns. There was statistically significant association of type of PC with type of crown (chi =0.004, O= 2.52, 95 C 1.44.6, p=0.002), dental arch (chi=0.025, O=0.52 95 C 0.29-0.915, p=0.023), and surface of crown (chi= 0.04, O= 1., 95 C 1.004-2.91, p=0.04). No significant association of type of PC was found with gender and age. Conclusion: In comparison with Metal crowns, PFM crowns manifested three times more loose PC.