Effect of acidic pretreatment combined with a silane coupling agent on bonding durability to silicon oxide ceramic

This study examined the effect of different acidic treatments and the role of a phosphate monomer in a silane coupling agent on the durability of the dual-cure resin cement/silicon oxide bond. Ceramic blocks (Vita Celay Blanks) were cut into multiple 3 mm-thick slices and polished using 600 grit SiC paper. Two pairs were left untreated [controls (CTRL)], two pairs were treated with 40% phosphoric acid and rinsed with water for 30 s (PA), and another two pairs treated with 20% hydrofluoric acid followed by 30 s water rinsing (HF). Half the specimens were silanated with Tokuso Ceramics Primer (TCP) (Tokuyama) and the other half with TCP formulated without phosphate monomer (TCP-NoPM). All the pairs were bonded with Bistite II dual-cure resin cement (Tokuyama) and light cured. After 24 h water storage at 37 degrees C, 0.7 mm-thick slabs were serially sectioned. Immediately, after 6 months and after 1 year of water storage, two slabs were randomly selected from each subgroup, and sliced into beams (6 x 0.7 x 0.7 mm) for the microtensile bond strength (muTBS) test. The muTBS data were statistically analyzed using multiple Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests (p < 0.05). Failure modes were determined using a confocal laser-scanning microscope. Ceramic surface morphology after the different acidic treatments was examined using an SEM. After 1 day, in the case of silane treatment with TCP, there were no significant differences in muTBS between the control and acid-treated groups (p > 0.05), whereas with TCP-NoPM, the muTBS of the control was significantly lower than the acid-treated groups (p < 0.05). All the TCP and acid-treated TCP-NoPM groups exhibited significant reductions in muTBS after 6 months (p < 0.05). After 1 year, the muTBS of the acid-treated TCP groups were not significantly different from the control TCP group (p > 0.05). There was also no significant difference between the HF-treated TCP and TCP-NoPM groups (p > 0.05) after 1 year, all exhibiting greater than 10 MPa tensile bond strength. It is suggested that acidic pretreatment of the ceramic surface does not improve the durability of the dual-cure resin cement/silicon oxide ceramic bond when an acidic phosphate monomer is present as an activator in a ceramic primer.