ABSTRACT
Background: All-ceramic crown (ACC) preparations are widely used in day-to-day dentalclinical practice. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate all-ceramic crown preparationsperformed by pre-clinical dental students at the College of Dentistry, Jazan University inSaudi Arabia and to compare the quality of the preparations between male and female groups.Materials and Methods: A total of 95 ivory teeth were prepared by fourth-year dentalstudents (44 males, 51 females). The students prepared a maxillary right central incisor forACC after mounting in the Frasaco typodont arches. Two silicone putty indexes for maxillaryanterior were obtained that extended to cover one or two teeth on either side. The facial indexwas used to provide information about the facial reduction mesio-distally. Another index wasprepared by cutting the silicone in half along the faciolingual midline of the prepared tooth,providing us with incisal, buccal, palatal, and axial reductions, in addition to biplanereduction. The data were encoded into a Statistical Package for Social Sciences program andanalyzed accordingly using Chi-square test. Results: The preparations of ACC for maxillaryanterior teeth were acceptable, ranging within 60%-85% in all criteria, which includedstructural durability, retention, and resistance. The male group was more excellent in incisalreduction (41.0%), whereas the female group was more excellent in axial taper preparations(59.1%), resulting in significant differences between genders in this preparation criteria. Allgender groups showed acceptable tooth preparations in shoulder reductions and location offinish lines, ranging within 57%-89%. Conclusion: The preparations for ACC achieved bythese dental students were considered clinically acceptable. The students clearly understoodthe principles of crown preparation. However, they still require more practice in order tomaster the art of crown preparation.