Non-invasive imagistic investigations of repaired IPS Empress e.max all ceramic crowns

The present study is proposing to investigate through non-invasive techniques, the quality of repaired of all-ceramic crowns with ceramic material. 20 all-ceramic crowns made with IPS e.max Empress System. The ceramic component was removed with a grinding instrument from the buccal-incisal of each crown. The ceramic veneer was removed in order to simulate the fracture of the ceramic supra-structure. Defect's size was approximately 3Ã?3mm for all the specimens. In some cases the incisal margin was also removed. All the crowns were repaired with ceramic material VM7 (Vita) after the manufacturer's instructions. The repaired area was investigated through imagistic and also non-invasive techniques. The involved investigation systems are analyzing macroscopic and microscopic the repaired area. Optical Coherence Tomography Time Domain and X ray. Optical Coherence Tomography is an optical microscope which can scan the surface and deep layers of the investigated interface. X ray is useful in detecting macroscopic defects and gaps into the material mass. The quality of the repaired defects may be evaluated and some clinical indications can be made.