Preventing green discoloration of porcelain baked
over silver-palladium alloys
Luis Blanco-Dalmau, D.D.S.*
University of Puerto Rico, School of Dentistry, San Juan, Puerto Rico
M any ceramometal crowns are constructed with
nonprecious alloys, which creates problems to the
technician in laboratory procedures and to the patient
who is allergic to nickel if nickel-containing alloys are
involved. The laboratory procedures are not modified
with silver-palladium alloys, but there is a possibility
of a green discoloration. Silver melts at 1,761’ F (961’
C) and will varporize above this temperature. The
muffle will be impregnated with silver particles that
will form compounds with the porcelain and form the
green discoloration.
The old principle of time and temperature used in
ceramics is applied, with the restoration kept in the
oven longer to get the same results obtainable at higher
temperatures. The temperature is kept lower than
1,760” F when 1,800” F-type porcelain is used. The
oven should be purged periodically; a piece of a carbon
rod may be used during the baking cycle, but this is not
necessary. The metal framework must be cleansed with
a sandblaster, preferably a nonrecycling one, with 50
pm aluminum oxide. The restoration is then washed
with distilled water in an ultrasonic cleaner for
approximately IO minutes. A ceramic conditioner rec-
ommended by many manufacturers is applied to form a
coat on the metal and prevent future vaporization of the
silver in the area to be covered by the porcelain. A
greenish gray color will appear on the metal after the
cycle when the temperature used is approximately
1,925” F (1,052” C). From there on, the temperature
of the oven is never carried higher than 1,761’ F (961’
C) at any time.
*Professor, Restorative Sciences Department.
THE JOURNAL OF P’ROSTHETIC DENTISTRY
PROCEDURE
1. Sandblast the restoration with aluminum oxide.
2. Wash with water in an ultrasonic cleaner.
3. Apply ceramic conditioner according to the man-
ufacturer’s instructions.
4. Apply opaque porcelain at 1,200’ to 1,700“ F
with Vat and 1,700” to 1,760’ F without Vat. Leave
at 1,760” F for 2 to 4 minutes until egg shell
appearance.
5. Apply gingival and incisal porcelain at 1,200” to
1,700” F with Vat and 1,700” to 1,760” F without
Vat. Leave at 1,760” F up to 30 seconds.
6. Apply a natural glaze at 1,200” to 1,760” F air
fired. Leave at 1,760“ F for 30 seconds or until
acceptable glaze is obtained. For an artificial glaze,
follow the manufacturer’s instructions.
CONCLUSION
A simple technique that will prevent green discolor-
ation of porcelain when silver-palladium alloys and
1,800” F porcelains are used has been described. These
alloys have similar characteristics to gold-containing
alloys, and conventional procedures need not be
changed. The problem of allergies that could be
encountered with nonprecious metals is avoided.
Refmnt requests to:
DR. Lurs BLANCO-DALMAU
UNIVERSITY OF PUERTO RICO
SCHOOL OF DENTISTRY
G.P.O. Box 5067
SAN JUAN, PR 00936
865