Aesthetic preformed paediatric crowns: systematic review

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Dentistry
• Restorative Dentistry
• Dental Materials

Background:

• Parents seek aesthetic alternatives to stainless steel crowns (SSCs) for restoring primary teeth.
• Aesthetic preformed crowns (APCs) are proposed to address these concerns.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of various APCs for primary teeth restoration.
• Comparison against conventional filling materials and other crown types.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of PubMed and Cochrane central register of controlled trials.
• Independent assessment of risk of bias and data extraction by two reviewers.

Main Results:

• Seven articles included; overall high risk of bias across studies.
• APCs like open-faced SSCs and pre-veneered SSCs cannot replace SSCs for molars.
• Zircon crowns showed better gingival health and fewer fractures than other options in incisor studies after 6 months.

Conclusions:

• Limited number of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with high risk of bias.
• Further high-quality RCTs are necessary to establish definitive clinical effectiveness.