Repair bond strength of composite resin to zirconia restorations after different thermal cycles

This in vitro study investigated the repair bond strength of the zirconia ceramic after different aging conditions.

In order to imitate the failure modes of veneered zirconia restorations, veneer ceramic, zirconia, and veneer ceramic-zirconia specimens were prepared and were divided into 4 subgroups as: control (37℃ distilled water for 24 hours ) and 3000, 6000, 12000 thermal cycling groups (n=15). Then, specimens were bonded to composite resin using a porcelain repair kit according to the manufacturer recommendation. The repair bond strength (RBS) test was performed using a universal testing machine (0.5 mm/min). Failure types were analyzed under a stereomicroscope. Two-way ANOVA and Bonferroni test were used for statistical analysis.

The RBS values of zirconia specimens were statistically significant and higher than veneer ceramic and veneer ceramic-zirconia specimens in control, 3000 and 6000 thermal cycling groups (P<.05). When 12000 thermal cycles were applied, the highest value was found in zirconia specimens but there was no statistically significant difference between veneer ceramic and veneer ceramic-zirconia specimens (P>.05). Veneer ceramic specimens exhibited cohesive failure types, zirconia specimens exhibited adhesive failure types, and veneer ceramic-zirconia specimens exhibited predominately mixed failure types.

Thermal cycling can adversely affect RBS of composite resin bınded to level of fractured zirconia ceramics.