Hardness and in vitro wear of a novel ceramic restorative cement

The aim of the present work was to compare a new ceramic restorative cement for posterior restorations, DoxaDent, with other types of tooth-colored materials for direct use as regards hardness and in vitro wear. Four hybrid resin composites, one polyacid-modified resin composite, one resin-modified glass ionomer cement, one conventional glass ionomer cement, one zinc phosphate cement, an experimental version as well as the marketed version of the ceramic restorative cement, were investigated. Hardness of the materials was tested with the Wallace indentation tester and wear was tested with the ACTA wear machine. All tests were carried out on 2-wk-old specimens. DoxaDent was as hard as the zinc phosphate cement and the hardest resin composite. The ceramic restorative cement wore significantly more than the resin composites, the same as the zinc phosphate cement, and less than the glass ionomer cements. No correlation between hardness and wear was found. It can be concluded that the ceramic restorative cement is a rather hard material but with a relatively low wear resistance.