The Ability of Dental Specialists to Distinguish Lateral Incisor Metal-Free From Porcelain-Fused-to-Metal Implant Supported Crowns.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the ability of dental specialists to distinguish lateral incisor metal-free from porcelain-fused-to-metal implant supported crowns in the anterior region. Five single-tooth implants in the maxillary lateral incisor region were restored with two types of implant-supported crowns (porcelain-fused-to-metal and metal-free). Photographs were presented to 20 evaluators. The evaluators had to answer whether the crown was: metal-free, porcelain-fused-to-metal or they could not tell the difference. The results showed that groups 1 (all participants), 3 (Restorative & Prosthodontic specialists), 4 (graduated 10 years) and 5 (graduated > 10 years) failed to respond correctly (P > 0.05) to which type of crown was presented to them. Group 2 (Periodontology & Implantology specialists) showed an accuracy rate of 35.6% (P = 0.009), in relation to metal-free crowns, 5.6 which is below the random index. The authors concluded that the evaluators from the 5 groups studied were unable to significantly distinguish which type of crown was used in the 10 presented situations.