An esthetic technique for veneering anterior stainless steel crowns with composite resin

The restoration of primary anterior teeth presents complicated esthetic and retention problems to the clinician. A technique is described for the chairside veneering of composite resin to stainless steel crowns, which results in well contoured restorations with superior durability and esthetics. A trimmed and fitted stainless steel crown can be veneered in three to five minutes. This provides the adaptability and gingival contour benefits of the stainless steel crown in conjunction with the cosmetics of the composite facings. The technique described produced composite veneers with a mean sheer bond strength of 3520 PSI (24.4 Mpa).