Marginal Adaptation Of Partial Crowns Cast In Titanium And Gold Alloy R. Stoll*, C. Fischer, M. Springer, V. Stachniss (Philipps University Of Marburg, Dental School, Dept. Of Operative Dentistry) Objective The aim of the present study was to assess in vivo the marginal integrity of partial crowns cast in pure titanium and in a gold alloy.   Material & Method For this purpose, 50 molars were prepared for partial crowns and then restored with partial crowns cast in Degulor M® gold alloy and in pure titanium, 25 partial crowns in each group. At a subsequent session, replicas were produced using a special impression-taking technique. The SEM technique was used to perform quantitative margin analysis (Tiffmess 1.8 program). A Mann-Whitney test was accomplished to compare the results from both groups.   Results The partial crowns made from gold alloy showed 34.9% margin quality A (vertical discrepancy < 50 µm), 27.4% margin quality B (vertical discrepancy 50-100 µm) and 20.7% margin quality C (vertical discrepancy >100 µm). The partial crowns made from titanium showed 26.1% margin quality A, 35.7% margin quality B and 27.9% margin quality C. The gold alloy crowns displayed significantly (p<0.05) more margin quality A, and the titanium crowns significantly (p<0.05) more margin qualities B and C.   Conclusion The results show that better marginal integrity can be achieved with gold alloy than with titanium partial crowns. However, in practical terms the difference in marginal quality is only slight, so that the use of pure titanium for single-tooth restorations is justified.