Effect of Different Surface Treatments on Retention of Cement-Retained, Implant-Supported Crowns

To evaluate the effect of different treatments applied to titanium implant abutment surfaces on the retention of implant-supported cement-retained crowns using resin cement.

A total of 72 titanium implant abutments were divided into six groups (n = 12 each) based on the selected surface treatments: (1) untreated; (2) airborne particle abrasion; (3) hydrogen peroxide etching; (4) atmospheric plasma; (5) chemical mechanical polishing; and (6) titanium dioxide (TiO₂) nano coating. After the surface treatments, scanning electron microscopy analyses and surface roughness measurements of the abutment surfaces were performed. Seventy-two metal copings were fabricated and cemented on the abutments with dual-curing resin cement. After a thermal cycling process, crown retention was measured using a universal testing machine. The experimental results were statistically evaluated with one-way analysis of variance, Tukey honest significant difference, and Tamhane's T2 tests.

The highest surface roughness values were obtained with the airborne-particle abrasion group (1.44 μm), which also resulted in the highest retention values (828.5 N), followed by the hydrogen peroxide-etching group (490.7 N), the atmospheric plasma group (466.5 N), the chemical mechanical polishing group (410.8 N), and the control group (382.6 N).

It was determined that airborne particle abrasion, hydrogen peroxide etching, and atmospheric plasma treatments significantly increased the crown retention and that all alternative treatments, except for TiO₂ nano coating, worked better than the untreated control.