Microleakage and compressive strength of various pediatric crowns used for the restoration of primary molar teeth in vitro

In pediatric dentistry, prefabricated pediatric crowns have been used for a long time. This study was aimed to evaluate the microleakage and compressive strength of prefabricated stainless-steel crowns (3M ESPE, St. Paul, Minn., USA), prefabricated zirconia crowns (Kids-e-Dental Llp, Mumbai, India), and prefabricated fiberglass crowns (Figaro Crown INC, Mineapolis, USA) used in primary molars with excessive loss of crown structure in vitro. Dye penetration method was used in the microleakage test and compressive strength test was conducted on the INSTRON 3345 device and the. In this study, statistical analysis was performed using the NCSS (Number Cruncher Statistical System) 2009 Statistical Software (Utah, USA) package program for the evaluation of the data. The results were evaluated at a significance level of p<0.05. In terms of the amount of dye penetration and cement loss, the difference between all groups was found to be statistically significant (p=0.001). The highest dye penetration rate was found in the fiberglass crown group, followed by the zirconia crown group and the stainless-steel crown group, respectively (p=0.001). Regarding the compressive strength test results, the difference between all groups was found to be statistically significant (p=0.0001). The highest compressive strength was measured in the fiberglass crown group, followed by the stainless-steel crown and zirconia crown groups. In conclusion, it was observed that, fiberglass crowns had the highest compressive strength, whereas stainless-steel crowns were more successful than the other two groups in terms of preventing microleakage. Keywords: Prefabricated pediatric crowns, in vitro, microleakage, compressive strength.