Are Tooth and Ceramic Fractures Different Sides of the Same Coin? A Report of Two Clinical Cases.

Two clinical cases involving the fracture of a natural tooth and one of a ceramic crown are presented and discussed based on fractography principles. In the first case, a patient reported intense pain in a sound third molar where a longitudinal fracture was identified, and the tooth was extracted. In the second case, a posterior rehabilitation using a lithium silicate ceramic crown was carried out, and the patient returned after 1 year with a fractured piece of the crown. Both were analyzed under microscopy to identify the origins of fractures and their causes. The fractures were critically analyzed so that relevant information could be generated from the laboratory to the clinic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]