Influence of Different CAM Strategies on the Fit of Partial Crown Restorations: A Digital Three-dimensional Evaluation

OBJECTIVE: CAM fabrication is an important step within the CAD/CAM process. The internal fit of restorations is influenced by the accuracy of the subtractive CAM procedure. Little is known about how CAM strategies might influence the fit of CAD/CAM fabricated restorations. The aim of this study was to three-dimensionally evaluate the fit of CAD/CAM fabricated zirconia-reinforced lithium silicate ceramic partial crowns fabricated with three different CAM strategies. The null hypothesis was that different CAM strategies did not influence the fitting accuracy of CAD/CAM fabricated zirconia-reinforced lithium silicate ceramic partial crowns. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Preparation for a partial crown was performed on a maxillary right first molar on a typodont. A chairside CAD/CAM system with the intraoral scanning device CEREC Omnicam (Dentsply Sirona, York, PA, USA) and the 3+1 axis milling unit CEREC MCXL was used. There were three groups with different CAM strategies: step bur 12 (12), step bur 12S (12S), and two step-mode (12TWO). The zirconia-reinforced lithium silicate ceramic Celtra Duo (Dentsply Sirona) was used as the CAD/CAM material. A new 3D method for evaluating the fit was applied, consisting of the quadrant scan with the intraoral scanning device CEREC Omnicam. The scan of the PVS material adherent to the preparation and the preparation scan were matched, and the difference analysis was performed with special software OraCheck (Cyfex AG, Zurich, Switzerland). Three areas were selected for analysis: margin (MA), axial (AX), and occlusal (OC). Statistical analysis was performed using 80% percentile, one-way ANOVA, and the post hoc Scheffé test with α=0.05. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were found both within and between the test groups. The aspect axial fit results varied from 90.5 ± 20.1 μm for the two-step milling mode (12TWO_AX) to 122.8 ± 12.2 μm for the milling with step bur 12S (12S_AX). The worst result in all groups was found for the aspect occlusal fit with the highest value for group 12S of 222.8 ± 35.6 μm. Group two-step milling mode (12TWO) performed statistically significantly better from groups 12 and 12S for the occlusal fit ( p