Abstract:

Precious metal alloys offer favorable retention and mechanical properties and remain in clinical use for custom post-and-core restorations. Digital methods have been widely applied to the fabrication of customized post-and-core restorations. However, because precious metal alloys remain difficult to process directly using digital manufacturing techniques, current workflows commonly combine digital design with three-dimensional printing of resin patterns followed by investment casting. This process involves multiple steps, including post-space data acquisition, computer-aided design, resin pattern printing, investing and casting, and clinical evaluation. Errors arising at the clinical and laboratory stages may accumulate and affect the final fit. To address the variability in accuracy associated with inconsistent operating parameters and quality-control procedures, this article integrates available evidence and expert opinion to provide recommendations, quality-control targets, and remake criteria for key procedures, including post-space data acquisition, virtual cement space setting, resin pattern printing and post-processing, casting compensation, post-casting processing, and clinical evaluation. The aim is to provide practical guidance for technical procedures that currently lack unified standards but require clinical standardization, thereby promoting the standardized application of digitally assisted investment casting for customized precious metal alloy post-and-core restorations and improving their clinical longevity.

Key words: digital prosthodontics, precious metal alloy, customized post-and-core, intraoral scanning, computer-aided design, investment casting, quality control