The Effect of Translucency and Surface Treatment on the Flexural Strength of Aged Monolithic Zirconia

Aims. This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the effect of the degrees of translucency in different types of monolithic zirconia as well as the aging and surface treatment with airborne particle abrasion on the flexural strength of monolithic zirconia. Materials and Methods. Sixty bar-shaped specimens were fabricated from three different types of presintered monolithic zirconia (n = 20 per group) including low translucent (LT) (DD Bio ZW iso, high strength zirconia, Dental Direkt, Germany), high translucent (HT) (DD Bio ZX2 98, high translucent zirconia, Dental Direkt, Germany), and multilayered system (ML) (DD cubeX2®ML, multilayer, cubic zirconia system, Dental Direkt, Germany). Each monolithic zirconia group was equally subdivided according to be either air-abraded with 110 µm aluminium oxide particles or left untreated (control). After thermocycling, the flexural strength was measured by using a universal testing machine. Two-way ANOVA followed by Tukey’s post hoc and independent samples t-test were used for the statistical analyses (P < 0.05). Results. Surface treatment and types of zirconia were found to have a significant interaction (P = 0.010). Having controlled the effect of surface treatment, the flexural strength of HT and LT zirconia was found to be significantly higher than the ML zirconia system (P ≤ 0.001). Airborne particle abrasion could significantly decrease the flexural strength of monolithic zirconia only in ML zirconia (P = 0.002). Conclusions. Multilayered zirconia system had the lowest flexural strength among all groups. Moreover, the flexural strength of this system was attenuated by surface treatment with airborne particles abrasion.

Soft Denture Liner Adhesion to Conventional and CAD/CAM Processed Poly(Methyl Methacrylate) Acrylic Denture Resins-An In-Vitro Study

This study aimed to evaluate the airborne-particle abrasion surface treatment effects on the tensile bond strength (TBS) between resilient denture liner and CAD/CAM or conventional heat polymerized poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) acrylic denture resins. A total of 48 dumbbell-shaped specimens (70 mm in total length, and 12 mm and 7 mm in diameter at the thickest and thinnest section, respectively) were prepared from CAD/CAM and conventional acrylic resins. Before relining with denture liner, 12 specimens from each material were surface-treated by 110 µm Al2O3 airborne-particle abrasion, and the remaining specimens served as control (no treatment). Following relining, all the specimens were aged by thermal cycling (1000 cycles, 5–55 °C). The TBS of denture liner to acrylic denture resins was tested in a universal testing apparatus at a 5 mm/min crosshead speed. The debonded surfaces were visually examined for the failure modes. ANOVA and multiple comparisons posthoc analysis tests were applied to determine the significant difference in TBS between the study groups (α = 0.05). A significant difference in TBS was observed between the control and surface treated groups (p < 0.001) for both acrylic resins materials. However, there was no statistically significant difference in bond strength between the acrylic resins materials (p = 0.739). Surface treatment with airborne-particle abrasion demonstrated increased TBS of the soft denture liners to acrylic resins. The TBS of conventional and CAD/CAM acrylic resins to soft denture liners were not considerably different.

Review of Calibration and Improvement Methods of Light- Scattering Airborne Particle Concentration

Clean environment and its internal airborne particle concentration have been paid more and more attention, the demand for use and measurement of light-scattering airborne particle counter, as the main instrument for measuring airborne particle concentration, has increased synchronously. This paper untangles the worldwide standards and specifications for calibration of light-scattering airborne particle counter, analyses the shortcomings of traditional comparative calibration method, introduces the research progress of non-traditional calibration method based on statistical analysis of membrane and scanning electron microscope, then based on the theory of discrete phase model and gas-solid fluid dynamics, puts forward two improved calibration methods to obtain more reliable "true value" of the number of the standard particles passing through the calibrated OPC, to provide an innovative idea for improving the measurement accuracy of airborne particle concentration worldwide.

The Influence of Nanostructured Alumina Coating on Bonding and Optical Properties of Translucent Zirconia Ceramics: In Vitro Evaluation

Thin, non-retentive, monolithic restorations fabricated from novel translucent zirconia ceramics are widely used in contemporary dentistry. Because of the chemical inertness of zirconia, debonding of such restorations remains the main clinical complication. Limited evidence on the bonding performance of novel translucent zirconia exists; therefore, the present study aimed to evaluate, in vitro, the shear-bond strength (SBS) of translucent zirconia modified with a nanostructured alumina coating (NAC). The SBS of resin cement to translucent zirconia, materials containing 3, 4 or 5 mol.% of yttria modified with NAC, was measured and related to airborne-particle abraded (APA) zirconia surfaces. Half of each of the specimen groups (n = 20) were subjected to 37,500 thermocycles in water. In addition, to evaluate the effect of NAC on thin translucent zirconia discs (n = 10), the translucency parameter (TP) was measured and compared with APA. The results were statistically analyzed using a t-test and one-way ANOVA. NAC provided higher resin-zirconia SBS compared to APA, not affecting the zirconia optical properties. APA, on the other hand, lowered TP for all types of zirconia. NAC did not impair the mechanical or optical properties of translucent zirconia materials and should be regarded as a zirconia pretreatment alternative to APA.

Water-Airborne-Particle Abrasion as a Pre-Treatment to Improve Bioadhesion and Bond Strength of Glass–Ceramic Restorations: From In Vitro Study to 15-Year Survival Rate

The purposes of this study were to evaluate the efficacy of water–airborne-particle abrasion (WAPA) as pre-etching procedure for tooth surfaces to increase bond strength, and to compare the survival rate of WAPA vs. non-WAPA glass–ceramic restorations with a 15-year follow-up. The occlusal surfaces of 20 human molars were sectioned and flattened. The prepared surfaces areas were subdivided into two parts: one received WAPA treatment (prophy jet handpiece with 50 µm aluminium oxide particles) followed by acid etching (37% phosphoric acid for 20 s/3-step etch-and-rinse); the other one was only acid-etched. In total, 108 specimens were obtained from the teeth, of which 80 were used to measure the micro-tensile bond strength (μTBS) in the WAPA (n = 40) and control (n = 40) groups, while the remaining specimens (n = 28) were investigated via SEM to evaluate the micromorphology and roughness (Ra) before and after the different treatment steps. The survival rate (SR) was performed on 465 glass–ceramic restorations (131 patients) comparing WAPA treatment (n = 183) versus non-WAPA treatment (n = 282). The bond strength was 63.9 ± 7.7 MPa for the WAPA group and 51.7 ± 10.8 MPa for the control group (p < 0.001). The Ra was 98 ± 24 µm for the enamel control group, 150 ± 35 µm for the enamel WAPA group, 102 ± 27 µm for the dentin control group and 160 ± 25 µm for the dentin WAPA group. The Ra increase from the WAPA procedure for enamel and dentin was statistically significant (p < 0.05). Under SEM, resin tags were present in both groups although in the WAPA they appeared to be extended in a 3D arrangement. The SR of the WAPA group (11.4 years) was 94%, while the SR of the non-WAPA group (12.3 years) was 87.6% (p < 0.05). The WAPA treatment using aluminium oxide particles followed by a 3-step etch-and-rinse adhesive system significantly improved bioadhesion with an increased bond strength of 23.6% and provided superior long-term clinical performance of glass–ceramic restorations.