Parental satisfaction with bonded resin composite strip crowns for primary incisors

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the parental satisfaction of bonded resin composite strip crowns for the treatment of maxillary anterior primary incisors and compare their satisfaction with the clinical evaluation and success of the crowns.

This was a retrospective, clinical study of patients who had strip crowns (SC) placed on maxillary primary incisors, returned for at least 1 recall examination, and whose parents gave consent for them to participate in the study. Color photographs were used for evaluation by 2 independent pediatric dentists. Parental satisfaction regarding the esthetics of the crowns was evaluated by a questionnaire.

One hundred and twelve restorations placed in 40 children were evaluated. The evaluations were performed after the crowns had been in place for an average of 18 months (range=6-25 months). Overall parental satisfaction with the treatment was excellent; however, satisfaction with regard to color received the lowest rating. No significant differences were found between dentist and parent evaluations of color, size, and overall appearance (Fisher exact test; P=.194,.776,.291, respectively). Parents rated their overall satisfaction as being positive regardless of their poor ratings of color, size, or overall appearance. However, a significant relationship was found between durability and overall satisfaction (P=.046). Parents who gave poor ratings to durability also rated their overall satisfaction as being poor.

Parental satisfaction with bonded resin composite SCs for the treatment of primary incisors with large or multi-surface caries was excellent. Parents' dissatisfaction was most often related to color of the restorations. However, this did not affect their overall satisfaction with the crowns. The durability of restorations negatively affected the rating of overall satisfaction with the crown. Durability seems to be of more concern than excellent color match to this group of parents.