[ investigation of the amount of preparation of abutments receiving metal-ceramic crowns by postgraduate students]

ABSTRACT

The main principle of tooth preparation to receive full crowns is to preserve tooth structure. The aim of this study is to investigate the amount of preparation of abutments receiving Metal-Ceramic crowns provided by postgraduate [MSc] students at Dental School-Damascus University. The data were collected from one hundred dental casts of teeth prepared to receive full crowns with their natural antimeres intact. The study investigated the dimensional characteristics of prepared teeth, in relation to unprepared antimeres. The mean amounts of tooth preparation were either comparable to or greater than the ideal amounts suggested in the literature. This was especially true of the buccolingual dimension, since the mean amounts of preparation exceeded the ideal amount by nearly 1.00 mm. It can be concluded that over-preparation was a predominant finding in the course of this study