A systematic review of the survival and complication rates of all-ceramic and metal-ceramic reconstructions after an observation period of at least 3 years. Part II: Fixed dental prostheses.

OBJECTIVES The objective of this systematic review was to assess the 5-year survival rates and incidences of complications of all-ceramic fixed dental prostheses (FDPs) and to compare them with those of metal-ceramic FDPs. METHODS An electronic MEDLINE and Dental Global Publication Research System search complemented by manual searching was conducted to identify prospective and retrospective cohort studies on all-ceramic and metal-ceramic reconstructions with a mean follow-up time of at least 3 years. Patients had to have been examined clinically at the follow-up visit. Assessment of the identified studies and data abstraction was performed independently by three reviewers. Failure rates were analyzed using standard and random-effects Poisson regression models to obtain summary estimates of 5-year survival proportions. RESULTS The search provided 3473 titles for single crowns and FDPs and resulted in 100 abstracts for all-ceramic FDPs. Full-text analysis was performed for 39 articles, resulting in nine studies of ceramic FDPs that met the inclusion criteria. The data on survival and complication rates of metal-ceramic FDPs were obtained from a previous systematic review of Tan et al. (2004) and the updated version from the same authors (Pjetursson et al. 2007). In Poisson regression meta-analysis, the 5-year survival of metal-ceramic FDPs was significantly (P<0.0001) higher with 94.4% [95 confidence interval (CI): 91.1-96.5%] than the survival of all-ceramic FDPs, being 88.6% (95 CI: 78.3-94.2%). The frequencies of material fractures (framework and veneering material) were significantly (P<0.0001) higher for all-ceramic FDPs (6.5% and 13.6%) compared with those of metal-ceramic FDPs (1.6% and 2.9%). Other technical complications like loss of retention and biological complications like caries and loss of pulp vitality were similar for the two types of reconstructions over the 5-year observation period. CONCLUSION Based on the present systematic review of all-ceramic FDPs, significantly lower survival rates at 5 years were seen compared with metal-ceramic FDPs. The most frequent reason for failure of FDPs made out of glass-ceramics or glass-infiltrated ceramics was fracture of the reconstruction (framework and veneering ceramic). However, when zirconia was used as framework material, the reasons for failure were primarily biological and technical complications other than framework fracture.