Wear of primary tooth enamel by ceramic materials

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to document the amount of wear caused by ceramic materials to opposing enamel in primary teeth using an in vitro model. Methods: The localized wear by two different ceramic materials (alumina and zirconia) on primary tooth enamel was accomplished using a Leinfelder style in vitro wear test apparatus on 15 samples for 800,000 cycles each. The maximum wear height, width, and depth were measured with a traveling 20X microscope. Descriptive statistics, student's t test, and Mann-Whitney test were used to analyze enamel wear by the dental ceramics. Results: The height, width, and depth of the alumina samples were 1186.7 μm, 1097.5 μm, and 123.0 μm, respectively. The height, width, and depth of the zirconia samples were 1113.4 μm, 1082.2 μm, and 192.7 μm, respectively. No statistical difference was observed between the alumina and zirconia in this wear test (P>0.05). Conclusion: Although enamel wear was documented in both groups, the amount of in vitro wear was minimal, suggesting that ceramic crowns can be used without resulting in excess enamel loss to occluding primary teeth.