CLINICAL FACTORS AFFECTING ADHESIVE FIXED PARTIAL DENTURES - A 6-YEARSTUDY

One hundred forty-one adhesive fixed partial dentures were placed unde r controlled conditions for a 6-year longitudinal study. The influence of location (anterior/posterior, maxilla/mandible), tooth preparation techniques (retentive/less invasive), and four different methods of m etal conditioning (sandblasting/electrolytic etching and/or pyrolytic/ tribochemical silane coating) on the survival rate was investigated. F ailures (23 of 24) were caused by loss of adhesion at the metal-cement interface. The retentive tooth preparation reduced the risk of failur e to almost one twentieth, but the intraoral location did not influenc e survival time. The effect of silane-coating on longevity was extreme ly positive and was not reflected by successful retainers.