Fabricating a Ceramic-Pressed-to-Metal Restoration with Computer-Aided Design, Computer-Aided Manufacturing and Selective Laser Sintering: A Case Report

Although an all-ceramic restoration is increasingly in use in dentistry, a conventional metal ceramic restoration is still considered to be a gold standard. However, with increasing demand in esthetics and advances in ceramic technology, future of metal ceramic restoration has been less certain, necessitating additional qualities in terms of superior esthetics and easy fabrication. A ceramic-pressed-to-metal restoration (PTM) combines the merits of the casting and the press techniques. Fabrication of a PTM starts with wax-up and casting for the metal framework. Following the opaque porcelain application to the metal framework, a complete contour wax pattern is made and burnt out. The ceramic is then pressed into the room created by burnout of the full contour wax pattern. Therefore, a PTM exhibits better marginal adaptation than a J Korean Dent Sci. 2015;8(1):41-47 http://dx.doi.org/10.5856/JKDS.2015.8.1.41 ISSN 2005-4742