The quality of post and cores made using a reduce-time casting technique

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Dental Technology
• Prosthodontics

Background:

• Traditional dental casting procedures can be time-consuming.
• Optimizing casting protocols is crucial for efficiency in dental laboratories.
• Evaluating accelerated techniques is essential for modern dental practice.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the castability, surface roughness, and dimensional accuracy of dental castings produced with accelerated techniques.
• To compare accelerated casting protocols with standard methods.
• To determine the clinical acceptability of castings made with a rapid 24-minute investment process.

Main Methods:

• Fabricated 225 gold castings using two standard and three accelerated casting protocols.
• Evaluated castability using a diamond-shaped mesh pattern.
• Measured surface roughness with a profilometer and dimensional accuracy using a traveling microscope.

Main Results:

• No statistically significant differences in castability or dimensional accuracy were observed across all groups.
• A statistically significant difference in surface roughness was found for castings made with Ceramigold investment (p < .001).

Conclusions:

• The accelerated casting time using Fast Fire 15 investment yields dental castings suitable for clinical application.
• This rapid technique maintains acceptable quality for post and core restorations.
• Further investigation into surface roughness variations with specific investments like Ceramigold is warranted.