Three quarter crown:

It is a cast gold restoration which covers 3/4 of the crown

(occlusal or incisal, lingual, and proximal surfaces) leaving the
labial or buccal surface unprepared. It is less retentive and less
resistant to displacement compared to full metal and full veneer
crown.
The resistance to lateral force or buccolingual displacement of
the restoration is prevented by internal feature (e.g. proximal boxes
and grooves)
1-As a retainer for short span bridge.
2-As a single restoration.
3-As a splint in anterior teeth.
1- On teeth with clinical crown of good length and
thickness labiolingually.
2- Patient with good oral hygiene.
3- On teeth with or without minimal caries on
buccal or labial surface.
4- No discrepancy between axial relationship of
tooth and path of insertion of a bridge.
1- Short teeth.
2- Poor oral hygiene.
3- Narrow proximal surfaces.
4- Tooth with extensive caries.
5- Long span bridge.
6- Non vital teeth.
Advantages of 3/4 crown:
1- Tooth structure is saved
2- Better esthetic than other types of crowns
3- Vitality test can be done on the unprepared tooth
surface
4- Less chance of periodontal irritation because all
the margins of the crown is supragingival
5- Complete seating of the crown can be easily seen
by direct observation.
Disadvantages:
1- Difficulty in preparation compared to other types
of crowns.
2- There is more possibility of recurrent caries
along the cavosurface line angle.
3- There is a possibility of showing metal
especially in the lower anterior and posterior teeth
Occlusal Reduction.
Initial depth holes are placed in the mesial and distal fossae
approximately 0.8mm deep.
Three guiding grooves in each cusp and for functional cusp for
bevel similar to that of complete cast crown. The exception in the
groove that placed in the lingual incline of the buccal cusp. It becomes
shallower as they approach the buccal cusp tip.
Upon the completion of occlusal reduction, a clearance of at least
1.5 mm should exist on the centric cusp and at least 1.0 mm on the
noncentric cusp and in the central groove.
Axial Reduction:-
Three alignment grooves should be parallel to the long axis of the
tooth and should not exceed half the width of the tip of the diamond
used to place them. Remove tooth structure between the grooves and
place a cervical chamfer.
Carry the diamond into the proximal embrasure and reduce the
proximal wall. Stop the proximal reduction slightly short of breaking
the proximal contact. The resulting flange should be parallel to the
linguoaxial preparation, with the chamfer placed sufficiently cervical to
provide at least 0.6 mm of clearance with the adjacent tooth and the
axial wall allowing for a proximal groove of at least 4mm of length
occluso-cervically.
Groove Placement:-
• Preparation of the proximal groove is best done with a tapered
carbide bur.
• Position the bur against the interproximal flange parallel to the long
axis and perpendicular to the axial surface.
• Enter full depth of the bur, the groove need not to be deeper than
1mm at its cervical end but may be deeper near its occlusal end. This
is because of the tapering of the carbide bur.
Criteria of the Proximal Groove:-
The groove should resist lingual displacement of an explorer, the
lingual walls of the proximal groove should have 90-degree angle, to
resist lingual displacement.
The walls of the grooves should not be undercut relative to the
long axis of the tooth.
The walls should be flared toward the intact buccal surface of the
tooth. The aim of flaring is removing any unsupported tooth structure
remain at the cavosurface angle of the buccal surface.
Bucco-occlusal contrabevel:-
It is a narrow contrabevel that connects the mesial and distal flares
Purpose: - To remove any unsupported enamel and protect the buccal
cusp tip from chipping during function.
Criteria: - The bevel should remain within the curvature of the cusp tip
rather than extend onto the buccal wall, Thus the restoration will be less
obvious.
 Preparation of 3/4 crown on
anterior teeth

lingual surface: this is done by two steps

similar to other types of crowns.
1- cingulum portion.
2- lingual fossa portion.
Incisal reduction :
For the maxillary anterior teeth a lingual-incisal bevel is placed
using a diamond bur at 35˚to the lingual surface, this preparation
should not be extended labially to prevent showing of gold, for the
lower anterior teeth, a reverse bevel is placed on the labial surface
to cover the incisal edge in order to protect the area of unsupported
enamel from fracture and prevent the dislodgement of the crown.
Proximal reduction:
• The area is prepared similar to the full metal and full veneer crown but
care should be taken to avoid the break of the contact to the labial
surface.
• Two proximal grooves should be placed parallel to the incisal 2/3 of
the labial surface using a carbide fissure bur to get the longest groove
for better retention and to avoid overcutting to the labial surface
resulting in poor esthetic.
• The grooves should be placed at the junction of the labial and middle
third of the proximal surface and parallel to each other.
• The base of the groove should be 0.5 mm. above the chamfer finishing
line.
• The mesial and distal grooves should be connected with an incisal
offset.
• The advantage of the incisal offset is the improvement of the strength
of casting at this area and reinforcement of margin by connecting the
two proximal grooves together.
 Differences in the preparation of upper and
lower posterior teeth
1- The occlusal finishing line of the maxillary teeth terminate near
the bucco-occlusal junction while in the lower teeth the finishing
line is 1 mm. gingival to the lowest occlusal contact with the upper
teeth because the buccal cusp in lower teeth is a functional cusp
which should be covered by gold.
2- In the maxillary teeth there should be an offset, in the lower
teeth there is no offset but there is a bucco-occlusal shoulder (more
reduction).
 Differences between anterior and
posterior teeth preparation

In the anterior teeth the retentive proximal groove

should be parallel to the incisal 2/3 of the labial surface
while in the posterior teeth it is parallel to long axis to get
the longest groove for better retention of crown.