The objective of the investigation was to study the basic problems related to the firing of dental porcelain to commercially pure titanium. The firing of a low-fusing porcelain to sandblasted or electrolytically polished titanium was carried out in an ordinary dental furnace. The interfacial regions between the ceramic coatings and titanium were analyzed using scanning acoustic microscopy (C-SAM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) techniques. Thermal stresses in the joints were evaluated by means of a finite element model based on multilayer elastic strain analysis. The chemical reactions and their formation sequence at 750 degrees C was predicted thermodynamically and observed experimentally both at 750 and 800 degrees C. The C-SAM results gave evidence that the integrity of the porcelain-titanium joints are better in the sandblasted samples than in the electropolished ones, where defects were larger. SEM analyses of the same samples confirmed the C-SAM findings. Because the reaction layers are more continuous in the electropolished samples, cracks propagated more readily in these samples during the cooling procedure. Both thermodynamic calculations and experimental chemical analyses strongly indicate that the cause for the cracking of the reaction zone is thin layer of Ti (oxo)silicide and/or a relatively thick solid solution layer of Ti and oxygen.