Fracture of porcelain-veneered structures in fatigue.

Porcelain-veneered crowns are widely used in modern dentistry, and their fracture remains problematic, especially in all-ceramic systems. We hypothesized that substructure properties have a significant effect on the longevity of porcelain-veneered crowns. Flat porcelain/metal or porcelain/ceramic structures were cemented to dentin-like composite, and a mouth-motion cyclic load of 200 N was delivered by means of a tungsten carbide spherical indenter (r = 3.18 mm), emulating occlusal loading on crowns supported by dentin. Findings indicated that porcelain on a low-hardness gold-infiltrated alloy was vulnerable to both occlusal surface contact damage and porcelain lower surface radial fracture, while porcelain on a higher-hardness palladium-silver alloy fractured chiefly from occlusal surface damage. The advantage of a high-modulus metal substructure was less pronounced. Fracture in the porcelain/zirconia system was limited to surface damage in the veneer layer, similar to that in the porcelain/palladium-silver system. Bulk fracture, observed in veneered alumina layers, was not found for zirconia.