A clinical study on abutment taper and height of full cast crown preparations

Dental students at Tokyo Medical and Dental University are taught to prepare teeth for full cast crowns with a wall taper of 2 to 5 degrees and an occlusal clearance of 1.2 to 1.5 mm. However, it is difficult to achieve such an ideal taper. The objective of this study was to examine the abutment taper and height of teeth prepared for crowns by final-year dental students under clinical supervision. To evaluate the degree of taper and height of the prepared teeth, shadowgraphs of 63 working stone dies were traced. The angles and height of the abutments were then measured on the same tracing. Only 12.7% (8 out of 63 abutments) of the prepared teeth fell within the ideal range of 2 to 5 degrees, and the average taper was 9.5 degrees (19.0 degrees convergence angle). The average abutment height varied from 4.8 mm to 6.9 mm and showed a close relationship with the abutment taper. The average taper, 9.5 degrees, of the present study was larger than the ideal taper; however, it was thought to be clinically acceptable as it is difficult to achieve the ideal taper intraorally.