PURPOSE: The purpose of present study is to examine the correlation between the accuracy of abutment preparation and the marginal adaptation of metal coping. With this view, this study compared the correlations regard to the three different manufacturing methods of selective laser sintering technique, milling and casting. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two master models were made in a different way. First model with deep chamfer margin was prepared directly by a general clinician and the second model was designed by 3-D designing software program with the same abutment preparation principle and produced by computer aided manufacturing. 12 Co-Cr alloy copings were produced respectively with three different method; SLS system, CAD/CAM milling and conventional lost wax technique from each master model. The total 72 copings fully sit on the master model were stereoscopically evaluated at 40 points along the entire circumferential margin. RESULTS: Significant differences in the absolute marginal discrepancies of Co-Cr copings from SLS system (P=.0231) and casting method (P<.0001) were shown between hand preparation model and computer designed model. However, no significant difference was found between the two model groups from milling method (P=.9962). CONCLUSION: Within the limitation of this study, the effect of the accuracy of abutment preparation on the marginal adaptation of Co-Cr coping is statistically significant in SLS system and casting group. The copings produced by SLS system exhibited the lowest marginal discrepancies among all groups, and the marginal gap of this method group was influenced by the accuracy of the abutment preparation.
Alloys* ; Computer-Aided Design ; Dental Abutments ; Hand ; Tooth Preparation* ; Tooth*

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the correlation between the finish line designs and the marginal adaptation of nonprecious metal alloy coping produced by different digital manufacturing methods. Materials and methods: Nonprecious metal alloy copings were made respectively from each master model with three different methods; SLS, milling and casting by computer aided design and computer aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM). Twelve copings were made by each method resulting in 72 copings in total. The measurement was conducted at 40 determined reference points along the circumferential margin with the confocal laser scanning microscope at magnification ×150. Results Mean values of marginal gap of laser sintered copings were 11.8 ± 7.4 μm for deep chamfer margin and 6.3 ± 3.5 μm for rounded shoulder margin and the difference between them was statistically significant (P < .0001). Mean values of marginal gap of casted copings were 18.8 ± 20.2 μm for deep chamfer margin and 33 ± 20.5 μm for rounded shoulder margin and the difference between them was significant (P = .0004). Conclusion: Within the limitation of this study, the following conclusions were drawn. 1. The variation of finish line design influences the marginal adaptation of laser sintered metal coping and casted metal coping. 2. Laser sintered copings with rounded shoulder margin had better marginal fit than deep chamfer margin. 3. Casted copings with deep chamfer margin had better marginal fit than rounded shoulder margin. 4. According to the manufacturing method, SLS system showed the best marginal fit among three different methods. Casting and milling method followed that in order.