Aim

Compare two conventional welding procedures using a Cr-Co alloy, to connect sectioned cast bars to be fixed on implants.

Materials and methods

From a master model representing a toothless jaw with four implants, twenty (n=20) specimens sectioned into three parts were made. Two groups were formed, each with ten (n=10) specimens. Once conditioned, they were screwed to the master model. Its initial mismatch was analyzed using a stereoscopic magnifier, with a built-in camera and a software. The parts were welded using a different procedure for each group. Those corresponding to Group I were invested in a refractory block based on silyl-phosphate. Those of Group II were mounted on a Clever Spider metal structure. The mismatch was measured, and the results processed statistically. The level of significance was established at p<0.05.

Results

Group I had an initial mismatch of 97.30 ±13.81μm, and Group II of 98.53±11.24μm. After welding, Group I registered 98.53±17.17μm, 1.23μm higher than the initial one. In Group II, 103.13±17.61μm was observed, 4.60μm above the original. They were analyzed using Student’s t test; in both cases the result was p>0.05. When comparing groups I and II, using the t-test and the Mann-Whitney nonparametric verification, non-significant differences were observed, p=0.41 and p=0.38 respectively.

Conclusions

Under the conditions of this study, it was observed that the two welding methods analyzed were reliable for joining metallic superstructures without affecting their final fit.