Despite the high fracture strength of modern dental core ceramics, fracture is a common cause of failure in clinical trials. Fracture origins are typically in the crown margin in the appoximal region where the margin curves upwards. The scientific evidence for optimal marginal design of preparation is limited. The aim was to use a clinically relevant test method to evaluate the effect on strength of the cervical margin’s curvature of ceramic crowns.

Determination of fracture strength of different all-ceramic dental crown systems is not straight forward. Most in vitrotest methods induce contact damage at the loading point (crunch the crown-tests). Clinical failures, on the other hand, usually originate from cracks in the cervical margins. The aim of this study was to compare three all-ceramic systems using a test method that mimic clinical failure modes.