Chairside repair of preveneered primary molar stainless steel crowns: a pilot study

To evaluate the success of a direct chairside method for repair of esthetic facings in NuSmile® and Kinder Krowns® pediatric crowns.

A rapid direct chairside technique was developed for repair of fractured facings of preveneered primary molar crowns using the Co-Jet system to pretreat the exposed metal subsurface and composite resin (Herculite XRV). A total of 19 posterior crowns were included in the pilot sample. The loss of veneer was categorized as less than 50 percent and over 50 percent of the surface area. All clinical repairs were completed by one operator and evaluated by one examiner after three months.

Clinically, all patients accepted the repair process achieved within 15 minutes. The repair was either fully intact (N=5) or completely lost (N=14) by three months. No crowns showed partially lost repairs. This protocol had a low success rate of 26 percent. The two successfully repaired Kinder Krowns® had the greatest occlusal surface area rebonded, exposing more fenestrations of the metal subsurface.

Due to poor retention of the repaired composite, this protocol cannot be recommended routinely for in vivo repair of preveneered stainless steel crowns with fractured facings. It could be considered as an interim procedure in selected cases.