Plaque, gingival health and post-operative sensitivity in titanium inlays and onlays: a randomized controlled clinical trial

Objectives: Few clinical data on the use of titanium for restorative applia nces are available. The aim of this study was to clinically evaluate titani um restorations compared to gold alloy restorations with regard to plaque, gingival health and post-operative sensitivity. Methods: In 54 patients, 99 titanium restorations were placed. The control group comprised 56 patients with 96 high gold alloy restorations. The mater ial was chosen by random. Each patient received one or two Class TI restora tions. Plaque Index (Silness and Loe, 0-3), Gingival Index (Loe and Silness , 0-3), and post-operative sensitivity (1-4, 1 = none) were rated at 2 week s, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, and 18 months, post-operatively. Results: The mean plaque scores ranged from 0.89 to 0.99 in the titanium gr oup, and from 0.88 to 1.04 in the gold group. The mean gingival scores rang ed from 0.91 to 1.07 in the titanium group, and from 0.82 to 0.99 in the go ld group. The mean plaque and gingival scores of the titanium and gold grou p did not differ significantly at any visit (P > 0.05). To evaluate post-op erative sensitivity, patients with one MOD restoration each were included, resulting in 46 titanium and 44 high gold restored teeth. Mean values of th e post-operative sensitivity scores in the titanium group were significantl y higher than in the gold group (P < 0.05). The restoration material was fo und to be the dominating variable with regard to post-operative sensitivity , which was not influenced by age, sex and the application of calcium hydro xide liner. Conclusions: It is concluded that neither higher plaque scores nor adverse effects on gingival health are to be expected in titanium restorations. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.