Aesthetic preformed paediatric crowns: systematic review

Different aesthetic preformed crowns (APC) are proposed to restore decayed and damaged primary teeth because the stainless steel crowns (SSCs) do not satisfy parents concerned about aesthetic.

The objective was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness of all types of APC for restoring primary teeth compared with conventional filling materials or other types of crowns.

Relevant articles were searched in electronic databases of PubMed via MEDLINE and the Cochrane central register of controlled trials. Two review authors independently assessed the risk of bias in the included articles and extracted data.

From 555 potentially eligible articles, seven relevant articles were included. The overall risk of bias was high for all the studies. SCCs cannot be replaced by APC, such as the open-faced SSCs and the pre-veneered SCCs, for restoring badly decayed primary molars. Zircon crowns were assessed only in primary incisors and compared with pre-veneered SCCs and resin composite strip crowns. After a follow-up of only 6 months, Zircon crowns gave significantly better results than the others with regard to gingival health and crown fractures.

Due to the small number of RCTs on this topic and their risk of bias, future RCTs should be carried out in primary teeth.