Effect of Luting Cement Space on the Strain Response of Gold Crowns Under Static Compressive Loading

The aim the work was to investigate the effect of varying degrees of luting cement thickness on the strain of the cemented gold alloy crowns under compression. Five dies with their corresponding crowns were fabricated using a lost wax technique. Three gold crowns for each die were fabricated under the control of specific die spacer layers to provide a space of 40 µm (10 layers of die-spacer thickness) and 80 µm (20 layers of die-spacer thickness). The crowns were subsequently cemented using zinc phosphate cement. The crowns were subjected to gradual static compressive loading between 10N to 250N (Newton) and the strain measured simultaneously. The results were statistically analysed using Independent t-test for the different die-spacer thickness at the 95% confidence interval (p = 0.05). It was found that a significant relationship in the three thicknesses. It was concluded that the absence of die-spacer significantly reduced strain response, whereas a very little change in the strain recorded as the die spacer layers has increased. Clinically, decreasing the number of die-spacer layers is advantageous as it provides a lower strain response under static compressive loading that would improve the longevity of the cemented full crowns inside the patient's mouth.