CP-titanium and titanium alloys as an alternative material to dental gold-silver-palladium alloys for crown restoration

Abstract

In recent years, the cost of manufacturing prosthetic devices has increased due to soaring prices of palladium and gold, and as a result, health insurance financing is under pressure. As one countermeasure, a dental CAD-CAM hybrid resin was adopted in 2014 as a treatment option only for premolar crown restorations. In 2020, the indications for this hybrid resin were expanded to the maxillary and mandibular first molars. This enabled crown restoration for metal allergy patients or patients with esthetic demands, and we were able to respond to the increasing prices of precious metals. Considering the long-term prognosis, however, it is unknown whether hybrid resin crowns have optimal mechanical properties as an alternative material for molar crown restoration. In comparison with noble metals, CP-titanium and titanium alloys (Cp-Ti and Ti alloys) are inexpensive metals that have mechanical strength similar to that of Type 4 gold alloy. Laboratory techniques for dental gold alloys can be also applied for Cp-Ti and Ti alloys. Thus, cast crowns made with Cp-Ti and Ti alloy became covered by national insurance for medical devices in 2020. However, titanium casting requires complicated procedures with technically sensitive points. Therefore, application of CAD-CAM for the fabrication of Cp-Ti and Ti alloy prosthetic devices may be a solution to the problems in titanium casting. The present review proposes adopting CAD-CAM for the fabrication of titanium crowns under national insurance coverage in order to stably supply highly accurate titanium crowns to dental professions. 【The Journal of the Academy of Clinical Dentistry 40（3）：231-237，2020】