Bending rigidity of composite resin coating clasps.

The purpose of this study is to examine the bending profiles of composite resin coating cast clasps. The cobalt-chromium alloy cast clasps were made using tapered wax pattern. Silane coupling method (Silicoater MD, Kulzer Co.) was used to attach composite resin to metal surface. The breakage and the bending rigidity of composite resin coating clasps were evaluated. Results were as follows: 1) After the repeated bending test to the tips of clasp arm at 10,000 times in 0.25 mm deflection, neither crack on composite resin surface nor separation at resin/metal interface was observed in any specimen. 2) There was no significant difference in the bending rigidity of clasp arms between before and after composite resin coating. From these results, it was demonstrated that the composite resin coating cast clasp was available in clinical cases and coating with composite resin had little influence on the bending rigidity of clasp arms. Therefore, it was suggested that our clasp designing and fabricating system to control the bending rigidity of clasp arms could be applied to composite resin coating clasps.