Purpose: Esthetic prefabricated pediatric crowns require more tooth reduction than stainless steel crowns due to their passive fit. The purpose of this study was to determine tooth reduction in primary molar preparations for various pediatric prefabricated crowns.
Methods: Fifty primary maxillary and fifty mandibular typodont molars were scanned with an optical scanner. The teeth were mounted in a typodont, and 10 experienced pediatric clinicians prepared them for five types of pediatric prefabricated crowns: (1) stainless steel (SS); (2) zirconia EZCrowns™ (EZ); (3) NuSmile ® ZR (NS); (4) Zirconia Kinder Krowns ® (KD); and (5) an experimental composite crown (PS). The prepared teeth were rescanned, and the pre- and postpreparation scans were precisely aligned. Mean and maximum reduction depths were calculated for occlusal and mesio- buccal surfaces. Differences in reduction among crown types were compared using one-way analysis of variance followed by the Student-Newman- Keuls post hoc test (α equals 0.05).
Results: Reduction depths were not significantly different among the esthetic crowns but were significantly higher than SS crowns. Maximum reduction exceeded two mm in some of the KD and NS crown preparations, with KD consistently showing the highest reduction.
Conclusions: Preparations for esthetic prefabricated molar crowns were more extensive than SS crowns, especially at occlusal and mesiobuccal surfaces. Clinicians should carefully follow manufacturer preparation guidelines to avoid encroaching the mesiobucccal pulp horn.