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Statement of Problem: Titanium has been widely used in dental implantology. However, problems remain for use of titanium in prosthodontics., Purpose: This study evaluated the marginal and inner fit of metal-ceramic restorations and frameworks made with a nickel-chromium alloy (Remanium CS) and a commercially pure titanium (Rematitan). Fit was compared with SEM before and after firing of ceramic materials., Material and Methods: Sixteen metal frameworks were cast with each casting material, 8 frameworks were used directly to evaluate measurements for fit (RCS: Remanium CS frameworks and TI: Rematitan frameworks). Porcelain was applied on the other 8 frameworks (RCSP: Remanium CS-porcelain and TIP: Rematitan-porcelain), fired, and then the fit was measured. Measurements were recorded at 3 points for marginal fit evaluation and at 3 points for inner fit., Results: Significant differences were recorded among the occlusal (JK) values of groups tested (P <.05). Marginal fit and inner fit of Remanium CS frameworks were better than Rematitan frameworks. However, there were no substantial differences detected among groups after firing the ceramic superstructures., Conclusion: The fit of the base metal alloy metal-ceramic crowns was better than the commercially pure titanium metal-ceramic crowns. However, both artificial crowns were clinically acceptable.

Porcelain was applied to 30 titanium and 30 Remanium CS disc-shaped frameworks in order to investigate the microleakage. Each group was divided to three subgroups each containing 10 specimens and representing the different firing cycles (10 specimens for opaque + dentine; 10 specimens for opaque + dentine + enamel; and 10 specimens for opaque + dentine + enamel porcelain + glaze application). All the specimens were stored in 37 degrees C distilled water for 2 weeks and subjected to 100 thermocycles between 5 and 55 degrees C with 30 s dwell time. The specimens were then stored in 5% basic fuchsin dye for 2 days. The washed, rinsed and air dried specimens were embedded in autopolymerizing resin and sectioned diametrically. The stereoptical investigations were performed by three independent investigators. The data were analysed by the Mann-Whitney U-test. The statistical analysis revealed that the different number of firings does not affect the amount of microleakage. However, it should be emphasized that the use of titanium would be beneficial regarding the relatively lower values obtained from the titanium-porcelain group.