Effects of cold atmospheric plasma treatment on resin bonding to high-translucency zirconia ceramics.

This study aims to evaluate the effects of cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment on the bonding of resin cement to high-translucency zirconia. Zirconia specimens were subjected to different treatments: no treatment (ZrT), 10-methacryloyloxydecyl dihydrogen phosphate (MDP)-containing primer (ZrT-M), alumina particle air-abrasion with/without MDP-containing primer (ZrT-AM/ZrT-A), CAP with/without MDP-containing primer (ZrT-PM/ZrT-P). The surface topography, wettability, and chemical composition were evaluated. The shear bond strength (SBS) was tested before and after thermocycling. CAP did not alter the morphology, increased the wettability, and decreased the carbon/oxygen ratio of zirconia surface. The SBSs of ZrT-PM and ZrT-P were significantly higher than the other groups. After thermocycling, ZrT-A, ZrT-M, ZrT-AM, and ZrT-P showed comparable SBSs, all of which were lower than ZrT-PM. It was concluded that CAP improved the bonding performance of high-translucency zirconia without damaging its surface. The combination of CAP with MDP further enhanced the bond strength and may enable durable bonding.

Effect of Provisional Restorations with Ovate Pontics on Preservation of the Ridge after Tooth Extraction: Case Series.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of provisional restorations using ovate pontics on the hard and soft tissues of the alveolar ridge after tooth extraction. METHODS: Patients with intact buccal bone after extraction of a maxillary incisor underwent a series of treatments. The protocol included tooth extraction and provisional restoration using ovate pontics. The outcomes were assessed 1, 3 and 6 months after the procedure, regarding changes in bone volume and soft tissue dimension. RESULTS: A total of 11 patients (6 female and 5 male) were treated using an ovate pontic provisional restoration after tooth extraction. After 6 months, bone loss at level 1, 3 and 5 mm below the most coronal section of the bone crest was 2.28 ± 0.53 mm, 1.51 ± 0.30 mm and 1.46 ± 0.41 mm, respectively. Changes in bone volume of these three levels were significantly lower (P < 0.01) than changes previously reported in the literature. The mesial and distal papillae recessed 0.47 ± 0.24 mm and 0.88 ± 0.57 mm, respectively, whereas the midfacial shrinkage was 0.86 ± 0.44 mm. The dimension of the ridge contour around the socket reduced mostly at 3 and 5 mm below the coronal section and the gingival mucosa, with values of 1.68 ± 0.48 mm and 1.61 ± 0.48 mm, respectively. CONCLUSION: Using a provisional restoration with ovate pontics after tooth extraction may preserve the alveolar ridge by sustaining the soft tissue, in particular the gingival papilla.

Effects of a modified cold atmospheric plasma jet treatment on resin-dentin bonding.

The radio-frequency atmospheric-pressure glow discharge (RF-APGD) plasma is a novel cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) source, which has low energy characteristic. This study investigated the effect of RF-APGD plasma on the mechanical properties of dentin collagen and resin-dentin bonding. The scanning electron microscopy analysis was performed before and after a novel RF-APGD plasma and a conventional CAP treatment and a tensile test was carried out for the stiffness of dentin collagen. The microtensile resin-dentin bond strength was tested either immediately or after a 50,000-cycle thermocycling process. Dentin collagen maintained an intact structure after a 45-s RF-APGD plasma treatment, whereas even a 10-s treatment with the conventional CAP collapsed the collagen scaffold. When compared with control groups, the RF-APGD plasma treatment showed: (i) an improved stiffness of dentin collagen; (ii) a significant improvement in the bonding strength before/after artificial aging. Thus, RF-APGD plasma treatment has excellent prospects as a resin-dentin bonding protocol.

Enhanced Biological Behavior of In Vitro Human Gingival Fibroblasts on Cold Plasma-Treated Zirconia.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether atmospheric-pressure dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma treatment of zirconia enhances its biocompatibility with human gingival fibroblasts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The zirconia disks were divided into four groups and treated using helium atmospheric-pressure dielectric-barrier-discharge plasmas for 30, 60 or 90 s or left untreated. The surface morphology, wettability and chemical elements were analyzed. Fibroblasts density, morphology, morphometry and attachment-related genes expression were measured at different time points from 3 to 72 h. RESULTS: After plasma treatment, the surface morphology and roughness remained the same, while the contact angle decreased from 78.31° to 43.71°, and the surface C/O ratio decreased from 3.17 to 0.89. The surficial areas and perimeters of HGFs were increased two-fold in the treated groups at 3 h. Fibroblasts density increased on treated disks at all time points, especially the ones treated for 60 s. Attachment-related genes in the groups treated for 30 and 60 s were significantly higher at 3 and 24 h. CONCLUSION: The helium atmospheric-pressure dielectric-barrier-discharge plasma treatment enhances the biological behavior of fibroblasts on zirconia by increasing the expression of attachment-related genes within 24 h and promoting the cell density during longer culture times. Wettability of zirconia, an important physicochemical property, has a vital influence on the cell behaviors.

[Coverage errors of five shade guide systems to vital natural teeth].

OBJECTIVE: To compare the coverage errors (CE) of five different shade guides in anterio vital natural teeth of selected people. METHODS: Anterior vital natural teeth were measured with Crystaleye spectrophotometer, color coordinates of the teeth and five shade guides A (VITA Classical), B (VITA 3D-Master), C (Chromascop), D (Shofu Vintage Halo NCC) and E (Noritake)were analyzed with the supporting software. The CE of the five shade guide systems to natural teeth were evaluated in cervical, body and incisal regions, and difference in CE among shade guides was determined. RESULTS: In the cervical region, shade guide A had the maximal CE value (3.09 ± 0.97) and shade guide D had the minimal CE value (1.62 ± 0.75).In the body region, CE of shade guide B (1.65 ± 0.64) and shade guide D (1.52 ± 0.74) were lower than those of shade guides A (2.04 ± 0.80), C (2.04 ± 0.90) and E (2.02 ± 0.84) (P < 0.05).In the incisal part, all CE were below 2.00, and again shade guide A had the maximal CE value (1.81 ± 0.86) and shade guide D had the minimal CE value (1.28 ± 0.55). CONCLUSIONS: Within the limitation of the study, shade guide D had better color coverage of natural teeth in cervical, body and incisal regions.

An internet evaluation of Chinese public preferences for asymmetrically altered incisor angulations.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the Chinese public preferences for asymmetrically altered incisor angulations, with the goal of linking preferences to gender. METHODS: Five variations of 5 separate digital smiling photographs were used in this survey. The alterations included discrepancy between the dental and facial midlines, inclination of dental midline and two central incisors, inclination of left central incisor (mesially or distally) and occlusal cant. The raters used a 100-point visual analogue scale to evaluate each image on a web page. RESULTS: Overall 1,022 raters joined the evaluation and they were reliable (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.76-0.80). Raters identified range of approval for several smile characteristics. A 2 mm dental to facial midlines discrepancy was the maximum acceptable deviation for females and 3 mm was the maximum for males. Females could accept a 4-degree occlusal cant and males could accept a 6-degree cant. These two characteristics were related to gender. The dental midline and relevant two central incisors with a 5-degree slope or less were generally acceptable. The approval of a left central incisor inclination was 5 degrees mesially and 10 degrees distally. These three characteristics were unrelated to gender. CONCLUSION: The approval for five smile characteristics could be identified reliably. The ranges of acceptability were large and slight changes in the angulations of incisors did not influence the smile attractiveness.