INTRODUCTION OF SPARK EROSION

The dental profession is currently experiencing a technology explosion. Processes are being replaced by modern, inexpensive, and precise techniques that can be used to solve complex restorative problems. Electrical discharge machining(EDM, known as spark erosion in Europe) is a nonconventional, industrial technique that has application in dentistry. EDM may be defined as a metal removal process using a series of sparks to erode material from a workpiece in a liquid medium under carefully controlled conditions. EDM is recently adopted in the dental laboratory to fabricate precision attachments, hybrid tele-scope crowns, Ti-ceramic crowns. EDM has also been used to achieve a passive precision metal-to-metal fit between the substructure bar and the removable superstructure and to correct the fit of implant retained restorations. In this article, a brief history and explanation of EDM is discussed and a description of the use of this process for fabricating attachments and crowns or for correcting the fit of cast restorations is presented.