Evaluation of clinical success, parental and child satisfaction of stainless steel crowns and zirconia crowns in primary molars

Stainless steel crowns are the most successful restoration for multisurface carious lesions in primary molars. The esthetics has been poorly accepted which led to the introduction of zirconia crowns.The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the clinical success, parental satisfaction, and child satisfaction of stainless steel and zirconia crowns in primary molars.Thirty healthy patients aged 6-8 years bilateral pulp therapy treated primary molars were randomly divided into two equal groups of stainless steel and zirconia crowns. Tooth preparation was done according to the manufacturers' recommendations depending upon the crown each patient would receive. All crowns were cemented with Type I GIC luting cement. Patients were evaluated at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, 24 months, and 36 months.Clinical success for stainless steel crowns and zirconia crowns were similar with no statistical difference between them. Zirconia accumulated less plaque than stainless steel crowns (P = 0.047). The parental satisfaction was high with both crowns. A highly significant statistical difference existed between the 2 groups in relation to the acceptance of color (P < 0.001) and child's satisfaction (P < 0.001).Zirconia can be considered as an esthetic alternative in the future.