Captek - High Noble PFM

Captek, while a high noble metal with 88% gold, really deserves its own discussion due its unique qualities and strengths. Unlike standard cast high noble PFMs, Captek is created through a foil technique - a puddy like material - whereby the technician creates the coping using pre-fabricated sheets of gold directly on the die. The coping is baked in an oven and then porcelain applied to it.

As such, Captek copings are not very strong or durable by themselves. For example, a single unit molar coping try in is not recommended. This is because even after baking, the coping is still soft and malleable. This leads to a number of problems when attempting to seat on the prepped tooth - one being that the margin can actually be manipulated or damaged. We recommend to avoid try ins with all single unit captek cases.

Captek bridges, on the other hand, are usually created through the use of a separate alloy (such as a palladium-silver or white gold alloy) which creates a framework around each individual captek coping. This technique allows for the copings to be tried in and avoids damaging the coping design. However, the margins are still very fragile and must be handled with extreme care.

The real strength of Captek comes from the combination of the metal foil and the porcelain build up. Once baked, the crown is very durable and suitable for virtually any situation in the mouth - single molars, anterior cosmetic cases, and even bridges with up to two adjacent pontics.

The beauty of captek is both in its marginal fit, the beautiful color of its gold and the warmth of the final restoration, and the predictable price of the alloy. Even in times when gold is soaring in price, Captek allows for at least a level of predictability not offered for cast metals. And this allows doctors to offer it as a premium product without fearing a lab bill twice what they expected.