Effect of marginal design on fracture resistance of IPS e.maxall ceramic restorations: Chamfer versus shoulder finish lines

Background and Aim: One of the problems of all ceramic restorations is their risk of fracture due to occlusal loads. The aim of the present study was to compare the effect of two marginal designs (shoulder and chamfer) on the fracture resistance of IPS-emax all ceramic restorations. Materials and Methods: One extracted maxillary first premolar received chamfer 50' marginal preparation (0.8 mm). Twenty impressions were made using poly vinyl siloxane. Then, chamfer was converted to shoulder 90'(1mm). After impression, epoxy resin dies were fabricated. Impressions of each epoxy resin die were made and poured with die stone. Twenty Press crowns and twenty ZirCAD crowns were made on stone dies and ce-mented on resin dies. Then, samples underwent a fracture test in a universal testing ma-chine. Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA. Results: The mean fracture resistance was 1426N for the chamfer ZirCAD samples, 1361.3N for the shoulder ZirCAD samples, 1059.9N for the chamfer Press samples and 1295.8N for the shoulder Press samples. One-way ANOVA revealed no difference among groups. (p=0.095). Conclusion: After porcelain application, marginal design does not affect fracture resis-tance of single IPS-emax posterior crowns. Fracture resistance was approximately the same in Press and ZirPress groups probably due to porcelain application, because in Zir-CAD group fractures occurred in the porcelain prior to the core