An in vitro evaluation of the marginal integrity of a porcelain inlay system.

There is currently no consensus of opinion regarding form of the finish line for porcelain inlays. This study compared beveled and nonbeveled finishing lines. Twenty-four Class II MOD cavities of a standardised design were prepared in extracted premolar teeth. Twelve were finished using a half enamel occlusal bevel and 12 were not beveled. Porcelain inlays were fabricated and luted with a dual-polymerizing resin material. The completed restorations were stored in water, thermocycled, and analysed using a scanning electron microscope. The quality of the enamel/composite resin interface was found to be considerably better than that of the inlay/composite resin interface. The adaptation of composite resin to enamel was of equal quality for both beveled and nonbeveled preparations.