Statement of problem: Successful long-term bonding to zirconia ceramic remains a challenge, requiring special cements and surface roughening by airborne-particle abrasion, which might negatively affect the ceramic.
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the shear bond strength (SBS) of composite resin cylinders to a modified zirconia surface using different luting techniques after thermal cycling.
Material and methods: Composite resin (TPH3) cylinders with a diameter of 3 mm were bonded to zirconia ceramics (Procera Zirconia) with a modified surface (RZ) and a machined surface (MZ). Three different adhesive luting cements (Panavia F2.0, RelyX ARC, RelyX Unicem) in combination with and without airborne-particle abrasion (50-microm and 110-microm Al(2)O(3)) were used. RZ was bonded using all 3 cements with (50 mum) and without airborne-particle abrasion; with 110 microm, only Panavia F2.0 was used. MZ was bonded using only Panavia F2.0 with (50 microm, 110 microm) and without airborne-particle abrasion. SBS was tested in a universal testing machine (Instron) before and after 90 days of water storage and 20,000 thermal cycles (dwell time, 15 seconds). Statistical analysis was performed using a multifactorial ANOVA model with alpha=.05.
Results: Mean SBS ranged from 10.1 to 20.0 MPa after 3 days and from 0.16 to 14.8 MPa after thermal cycling. Thermal cycling decreased SBS significantly. Airborne-particle abrasion significantly decreased SBS to the modified surface, regardless of cements used. SBS to the modified zirconia surface was significantly higher than to the machined surface.
Conclusions: SBS to the modified zirconia surface is higher than to airborne-particle-abraded, machined zirconia. Airborne-particle abrasion of the modified zirconia surface is not recommended.