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Re: Captek vs full cast gold coping
| mamounjo3@yahoo.com | 29 Sep 2005 18:46 |
Captek may be largely marketing hype. If you do a literature search for Captek on pubmed.org, you find 14 articles, about half of which are in trade journals. Captek is a functional type of PFM, but with the gold only like 0.3 mm. thick in captek, it is presumably not as strong as a regular PFM restoration. Captek is meant mostly to be of esthetic value, supposedly by combining thin gold with porcelain to achieve a nice esthetic effect. Some controversy about whether they are strong enough for posterior teeth, although some dentists place them there. They look good for anterior teeth, although the jury is out if this is any better than white gold PFMs or yellow gold PFMs. I put a captek once and noticed a blue line at the gingiva after a few weeks. What causes this "blue line" in the gingival margin? Do a pubmed search and it is hard to get a definitive answer. It is said to go away by putting peroxide subgingivally to break up the stain molecules.
Two trumpeted advantages: esthetics (controversial) and supposedly according to one or two articles, there is little bacteria growing around their margins. But who cares about bacteria? Bottom line: any crown margin will get caries if patient doesn't have good oral hygeine, and any crown will not get decay for decades if oral hygeine is good. Also, there are many factors besides mere presence of bacteria around a crown margin that determine if the crown will get marginal decay or not. Mere presence of bacteria is by itself not very significant.
Better to go for strength, with full standardized metal coping thickness. The esthetics of a standard PFM, even white gold in anteriors, can be quite perfect. It depends on where the margin is placed and how artistic is the laboratory worker. With lab work you get what you pay for. Cheap work and cheap sh.t go hand in hand. The "blue line" effect may have nothing to do with the metal in the coping.
The best restoration is pure gold for crowns, if the crowns can take the occlusal load where they are placed. Why? Pure gold burnishes with each tooth brushing, sealing and resealing the margins and preventing decay. White gold is too hard to self-burnish, although it withstands occlusal loads better. Pure gold may have esthetic concerns, but then again pure gold with pink gingiva makes a nice color combination. Matte finish the gold and it won't reflect light when the patient opens his/her mouth.
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| Scott | 29 Sep 2005 04:52 |
I have been reading on the internet regarding Captek and full cast gold copings.
Full cast gold copings oxidize upon firing - Captek doesn't
However if polished isn't the appearence of Porcelain fused to High 90+% gold similar and just as long lasting?
The captek process seems to take longer for the labs to produce than the standard PFM.
Are the only advantage cost and bacteria resistant?
Is there an advantage of porcelain fused (or pressed) to captek vs full cast gold?
Where can I find the research behind the claim that captek is bacteria resistant?
 Signature -sw
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