ABSTRACT
Purpose@#Zirconia fixed partial dentures with mandibular 2nd premolar and 2nd molar as abutments are fabricated and then the effects of inter-abutment distance on fracture resistance of zirconia fixed partial dentures is studied. @*Materials and Methods@#The materials used in this study are Cameleon S zirconia block and S2 zirconia block, which are divided into CS Group and S2 Group applying different inter-abutment distance for each material, and the sintered zirconia fixed partial denture was luted to the epoxy resin die using a temporary luting cement, and then the fracture resistance was measured by placing a 6 mm diameter hardened steel ball on the occlusal surfaces of the pontics and applying pressure at a cross head speed of 1.0 mm/min on a universal testing machine with a load cell of 5.0 kN. @*Results@#The fracture resistance of zirconia fixed partial dentures is not significantly affected by inter-abutment distance The fracture resistance of zirconia fixed partial dentures in CS Group was significantly higher in 15 mm of inter-abutment distance than in 13 mm and 17 mm of inter-abutment distance (P 0.05). @*Conclusion@#The fracture resistance of zirconia fixed partial dentures with mandibular 2nd premolar and 2nd molar as abutments does not significantly affected by the inter-abutment distance.