Removal of failed crown and bridge

Crown and bridge have life span of many years but they fail for a number of reasons. Over the years, many devices have been designed to remove crowns and bridges from abutment teeth. While the removal of temporary crowns and bridges is usually very straightforward, the removal of a definitive cast crown with unknown cement is more challenging. Removal is often by destructive means. There are a number of circumstances, however, in which conservative disassembly would aid the practitioner in completing restorative/endodontic procedures. There are different mechanisms available to remove a failed crown or bridge. But there is no information published about the classification of available systems for crown and bridge removal. So it is logical to classify these systems into different groups which can help a clinician in choosing a particular type of system depending upon the clinical situation. The aim of this article is to provide a classification for various crown and bridge removal systems; describe how a number of systems work; and when and why they might be used. A PubMed search of English literature was conducted up to January 2010 using the terms: Crown and bridge removal, Crown and bridge disassembly, Crown and bridge failure. Additionally, the bibliographies of 3 previous reviews, their cross references as well as articles published in various journals like International Endodontic Journal, Journal of Endodontics and were manually searched. Key words:Crown and bridge removal, Crown and bridge disassembly, Crown and bridge failure.