Hydraulic fast-setting calcium silicate cement for crown cementation

This study evaluated film thickness, diametral tensile strength (DTS), and crown retentive strength of hydraulic fast-set calcium silicate cement (fast-set CSC) compared to conventional luting cements.

Fast-set CSC was compared to zinc phosphate cement and glass ionomer cement. Film thickness was measured according to ISO 9917-1:2007. DTS was evaluated using cylindrical samples (n = 6 per group), which were kept in a humid environment for 7 days. Crown retentive strength was evaluated by cementing metal crowns onto prepared extracted molars (n = 21 per group), followed by 10,000 thermal cycling and a pull-off test. Failures were classified as adhesive, cohesive, or mixed.

All cements exhibited film thicknesses below 25 µm: 10 ± 4 µm for glass ionomer, 14 ± 6 µm for zinc phosphate, and 22 ± 2 µm for fast-set CSC. Zinc phosphate cement demonstrated a statistically significant lower DTS value (4.8 ± 1.7 MPa) than glass ionomer cement (8.7 ± 3.1 MPa), while fast-set CSC (7.1 ± 0.8 MPa) showed no significant difference compared with either material. Crown retentive strength did not significantly differ among the cements (p = 0.11), with zinc phosphate cement showing the lowest value (2.7 ± 1.1 MPa), without a statistically significant difference with glass ionomer (3.6 ± 1.9 MPa) and fast-set CSC (3.5 ± 1.3 MPa). Mixed failures were predominant in all groups.

Fast-set CSC demonstrated acceptable film thickness with DTS and crown retentive strength comparable to zinc phosphate and glass ionomer cements, showing promise for clinical potential in crown cementation, warranting further studies.