• Journal of Technologic Dentistry
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• v.34 no.2
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• pp.95-103
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• 2012

Purpose: Fracture strength of all-ceramic 3-unit fixed partial dentures manufactured by CAD/CAM and copy-milling systems were evaluated. Methods: Zirconia cores were made by milling the pre-sintered zirconia block by CAD/CAM or copy milling method followed by subsequent sintering. By building-up the corresponding porcelains on the core, all-ceramic bridges were fabricated, and those were evaluated in comparison with PFM fixed partial denture. Results: During the flexural test of the 3-unit PFM bridge, the porcelain started to chip or break at 507.28(${\pm}62.82$)kgf and the metal framework did not break until the maximum load level of 800kgf which was set in the testing instrument of this study. However, among all-ceramic restoration test groups, Everest(EV) group showed a peeling off or breakage of the porcelain from 365.64(${\pm}64.96$)kgf and the core was broken at 491.77(${\pm}55.62$)kgf. Those values of Zirkonzahn(ZR) were 431.03(${\pm}58.47$)kgf and 602.74(${\pm}48.44$)kgf, respectively. The break strength of the porcelain of PFM(PM) group was significantly higher than that of EV (p<0.05) group and there was no significant difference when comparing to that of ZR (p>0.05). ZR group showed higher break strength than that of EV group however there was no significant difference (p>0.05). The break strength of cores were in the increasing order of EV < ZR < PM (p<0.05). Conclusion: We could find that even though the PM group fractured at much higher value than all-ceramic cores, the breakage values of the porcelain of PM group with crack formation or delamination, which will be regarded as clinical failure, was significantly higher than that of EV group and not significantly higher than that of ZR group at p-values of 0.05. The break strength of ZR group was higher than that of EV group at an insignificant level(p>0.05).