Wear resistance and compression strength of ceramics tested in fluoride environments

Dental ceramics have been widely used because of aesthetic, but wear is still questioned. There are relates that ceramic surface is prone to degradation by acidulated fluoride, that can increase wear rates. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of neutral and acidulated fluoride gel, used as preventive agents for professional use, at wear and compression strength of dental ceramics IPS e.max ZirPress (ZIR), IPS Empress Esthetic (EMP) e IPS Inline POM (POM). For this, 30 crowns and 30 disks were obtained by heat-pressing. Crowns and disks were submitted to two-body wear test at machine of mechanical loading, simulating occlusion, lateral movement and disocclusion. It was performed 300,000 cycles at 1Hz frequency under 20N load, to simulate 1 year of mastication. Samples were totally immersed during the test and were divided into three groups according to the gel used for immersion (n=10): control, neutral (sodium fluoride 2%) and acidulated (acidulated phosphate fluoride 1.23%). Samples (crowns and disks) were analyzed for vertical height loss after the test using, respectively, profile projector and stereomicroscope. Roughness of worn surface of crowns and disks was evaluated by laser confocal microscopy. Data of height loss and roughness were evaluated by two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni's test. A crown/disk of each group was analyzed by scanning electronic microscopy. After wear resistance tests, crowns were cemented to their abutments and submitted to compressive load at 30° angulation and 1mm/min speed. Type of failures was compared by qui-square test. Ceramic EMP worn less while ZIR worn more. Control gel worn more at crowns while acidulated gel worn more at disks. Surface roughness of samples tested at acidulated gel was significantly lower. Type of failures found at compression resistance tests was affected by ceramic type, but not by gel used. The results suggest that ceramic and fluoride gel affect wear and roughness of worn surface while type of failure is only affected by ceramic.