Topography, microhardness, and precision of fit on ready-made zirconia abutment before/after sintering process

Sintering porcelain on a ceramic abutment may change the microstructure and result in aging processes that influence the mechanical properties, internal strain, and the three-dimensional form of the abutment, thus causing a possible misfit between the abutment and the fixture.

The aim was to investigate topography, microhardness, and precision of fit on yttrium-stabilized zirconia (Y-TZP) abutments before/after the sintering process.

Ten Y-TZP abutment samples were ground to a shape used in the clinical situation and divided at random into two groups: before/after sintering. After the surface roughness was measured on all abutments, the abutments were connected to fixture replicas, embedded in resin, and cut in the longitudinal axis. Both sides of the cut samples were measured with respect to microhardness and minimum distance between fixture and abutment surface. t-Test, one-way analysis of variance, and Bonferroni multiple comparisons were used to investigate statistical significant differences.

The surface roughness (S(a) and S(dr)) after sintering was significantly higher than before sintering. The total average values of microhardness after sintering were statistically lower than before sintering with a difference of 2%. The total distance between abutment/fixture before/after sintering demonstrated no statistically significant difference. Contact between abutment/fixture was most common at the top area of the fixture.

A slight decrease of microhardness and contamination of porcelain particles immediately below the veneered part were found on the Y-TZP abutment after sintering. The sintering process did not affect the precision of fit.