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Captek Crowns Win!
For the second year in a row, the Captek
crown has won
the clinician's Townie Choice Award for the best PFM crown and bridge
material. Clinicians, however, are not the only ones to recognize Captek's
technology. Data on units placed from laboratories around the country,
including Arrowhead Dental Laboratory, show strong steady increase in
usage. Significant laboratories report Captek crowns provide a very
high overall success rating, very low remakes, and a high customer
retention percentage.
The Captek crown is best known as an aesthetic
restoration. Captek crowns provide a higher degree of aesthetics than
traditional porcelain-fused-to-metal crowns. Most cosmetic dentists,
however, feel that pure ceramic crowns exceed Captek crowns in aesthetics.
General dentists, though, find Captek crowns easier to place, since they
can be cemented with traditional techniques and don't require elaborate
bonding procedures.
The Captek crown consists of porcelain baked
to a pure gold coping.
In addition to providing a more vital-looking crown,
clinicians report Captek crowns usually have improved surrounding gingival
color. Interestingly, the Arrowhead staff describes this clinical benefit
as the "crown with the warm glow."
This feature of better soft tissue
aesthetics around Captek crowns was documented in a clinical study
conducted by Boston University School of Dental Medicine and Harvard
University School of Dental Medicine in 2004.
In addition to superior aesthetics,
strength, and user friendliness, Captek is the only crown and bridge
solution clinically proven to lower harmful bacteria counts in the
surrounding sulcus, significant to long term clinical success.
New research from the University of
Minnesota measured an extremely low surface free energy on Captek
composite metal compared to standard restorative material. Researchers
hypothesized this material property might explain why Captek crowns are so
plaque resistant. This information builds on strong clinical research from
Forsyth Dental Center (Boston, MA) that reported 71 percent lower sulcular
plaque levels around Captek crowns. It is easy to infer from clinical
observations and research that Captek should be a serious clinical
consideration, not only for aesthetics and strength, but more importantly
for long-term tissue health.
(This is adapted from an article originally published in
Aesthetic Dentistry, Winter 2005 issue.) |
