Baseline (1994):
Preparation
Restoration
Restoration (2008): 14 years in situ
Figure 1. Restoration of a molar with an insufficient amalgam restoration using a partial ceramic crown: a tooth conservative
and esthetically pleasing restoration.
Figure 2. Survival rate (Kaplan Meier) of partial crowns
from Vita Mark II feldspatic ceramic and from gold alloy after
up to 5.5 years: no statistically significant difference (Federlin
M, et al. Controlled, prospective clinical split-mouth study of
cast gold vs. ceramic partial crowns: 5.5 year results. Am J
Dent. 2010;23(3):161-167).
replacement of the clinical crown including part of
the occlusal surface (at least one cusp) in posterior
teeth. Other terms frequently used are “onlays”, or
“overlays”. For the sake of simplicity, in this review
we use the terms partial ceramic crowns, onlays and
overlays synonymously. The term “table tops” is used
for the singular replacement of occlusal surfaces;
e.g. in teeth with extensive wear. 1 This method is not
covered in this article.
3. Longevity
Ample experience mainly from retrospective studies
exists with inlays from gold alloys with an excellent
longevity of over 90% in situ after up to or longer
than 10 years 2,3 and with metallic partial crowns (e.g.
76% to more than 86% survival) after up to 10 years. 4,5
Also, for ceramic inlays, available data show up to 98
% success after up to 8 years 6,7 coming close to gold
alloy inlays. Less favorable results were reported for
inlays from castable ceramics (76 % after 6 years), a
material, which is no