Effect of glazing and thermocycling on the fracture toughness and hardness of a New fully crystallized aluminosilicate CAD/CAM ceramic material.

BACKGROUND: The mechanical properties of fully crystallized lithium aluminosilicate ceramics may be influenced by intraoral temperature variations and postmilling surface treatment. The purpose of this study is to explore the interplay among glazing, thermocycling, and the mechanical characteristics (namely, fracture toughness and hardness) of fully crystallized lithium aluminosilicate ceramics. METHODS: Bending bars (n = 40) cut from LisiCAD blocks (GC, Japan) were randomly assigned to glazed or unglazed groups (n = 20) and subjected to the single edge v-notch beam method to create notches. A glazing firing cycle was applied to the glazed group, while the unglazed group was not subjected to glazing. Half of the specimens (n = 10) from both groups underwent thermocycling before fracture toughness testing. The fracture toughness (KIC) was evaluated at 23 ± 1 °C using a universal testing machine configured for three-point bending, and the crack length was measured via light microscopy. Seven specimens per group were selected for the hardness test. Hardness was assessed using a Vickers microhardness tester with a 1 kg load for 20 s, and each specimen underwent five indentations following ISO 14705:2016. The Shapiro-Wilk and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were used to evaluate the normality of the data and a two-way ANOVA was utilized for statistical analysis. The significance level was set at (α = 0.05). RESULTS: Regardless of the thermocycling conditions, the glazed specimens exhibited significantly greater fracture toughness than did their unglazed counterparts (P < 0.001). Thermocycling had no significant impact on the fracture toughness of either the glazed or unglazed specimens. Furthermore, statistical analysis revealed no significant effects on hardness with thermocycling in either group, and glazing alone did not substantially affect hardness. CONCLUSIONS: The impact of glazing on the fracture toughness of LiSiCAD restorations is noteworthy, but it has no significant influence on their hardness. Furthermore, within the parameters of this study, thermocycling was found to exert negligible effects on both fracture toughness and hardness.

Wear behavior and abrasiveness of monolithic CAD/CAM ceramics after simulated mastication.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the wear resistance and abrasiveness of monolithic CAD/CAM ceramics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rectangular-shaped specimens (12 mm × 6.5 mm × 1.5 mm) were sectioned from the following CAD/CAM blocks (n = 10); partially crystallized lithium disilicate (PLD), experimental fully crystallized lithium disilicate (FLD), zirconia-reinforced lithium silicate (ZLS), super-translucent monolithic zirconia (SMZ), and ultra-translucent monolithic zirconia (UMZ). Silicon carbide papers were used to mechanically flatten and polish the surfaces. PLD specimens were subjected to a combined crystallization/glazing firing cycle. Ceramic specimens were mounted to the wear device and tested for 200,000 cycles against human premolars at 20 N force and 2 mm sliding distance. Artificial saliva was used as a lubricant. The teeth were scanned using micro-CT before and after the wear test and the generated models were overlapped to determine the volumetric tooth loss. Before and after the test, specimens' weights and surface roughness (Ra) values were measured, and the differences were calculated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) were utilized for microstructural and chemical analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way ANOVA or an equivalent test for non-parametric results. Significance level was set at P ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: The type of ceramic material affected the ceramic and antagonist wear rates (P < 0.001). PLD and ZLS had the highest ceramic and antagonist wear, whereas UMZ and SMZ demonstrated the lowest wear values. The FLD group showed comparable antagonist wear and significantly less ceramic wear than PLD and ZLS. CONCLUSIONS: Monolithic zirconia demonstrated the best wear resistance and least abrasiveness to the antagonist. The experimental lithium disilicate was more wear-resistant than other glass-ceramic groups. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Monolithic zirconia is wear-resistant and gentle on the antagonist. In contrast, glass-ceramics are more abrasive to enamel.

Combined effects of thermocycling and load-cycling on microleakage of computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacture molar crowns.

This study evaluated the combined effects of thermocycling and compressive load-cycling on microleakage of computer-aided design/computer-assisted manufacture molar crowns. Sixteen ceramic (Vita Mark-II) and 16 composite resin (Paradigm MZ-100) crowns were milled using the CEREC 3D system. Eight crowns of each group were cemented to prepared molars using Panavia F 2.0, and 8 were cemented using RelyX Unicem Clicker. Specimens were thermocycled for 500 cycles and subjected to load-cycling for 1,000,000 cycles (60 to 600 N). Specimens were then tested for microleakage. Data were analyzed statistically using the Tukey post hoc test. All composite resin crowns survived load and thermal fatigue, while 6 ceramic crowns developed cracks. There were no statistically significant differences among groups regarding microleakage scores. Paradigm MZ-100 crowns were more crack-resistant to combined load and thermal fatigue than those composed to Vita Mark-II. However, microleakage scores of both types of crowns were similar. Int J Prosthodont 2011;24:376-378.

Survival rates of porcelain molar crowns-an update.

The aim of this study was to identify recent studies that dealt with the clinical performance of porcelain molar crowns and to explore the possibility of grouping the findings from similar studies together to draw overall conclusions. A MEDLINE literature search was conducted in early 2009 covering the preceding 12 years. Seventeen studies were indentified. However, only seven met the specific inclusion criteria and were analyzed. Among seven studies, five European countries were covered. Five studies reported on Procera AllCeram molar crowns while one reported on In-Ceram Alumina and Spinell crowns and another on CEREC crowns. For comparison, one additional study that reported on premolar crowns was included. In the five Procera AllCeram studies, 235 molar crowns were evaluated for 5 or more years, of which 24 failed. When the results of the five studies on the performance of Procera AllCeram molar crowns were considered collectively, an overall failure rate of 10.2% was found at 5 or more years. Int J Prosthodont 2010;23:60-62.