ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The relationship between the simulated gap wear and generalized wear of resin luting cements was investigated. METHODS: Five resin luting cements, G-Cem LinkForce (GL), Multilink Automix (MA), NX3 Nexus, Panavia V5 (PV), and RelyX Ultimate were evaluated and subsequently subjected to a wear challenge in a Leinfelder-Suzuki (Alabama) wear simulation device. Half of the specimens from each resin luting cement were photo-cured for 40 seconds and the other half were not photo-cured. The simulated gap and generalized wear were generated using a flat-ended stainless steel antagonist. Wear testing was performed in a water slurry of polymethyl methacrylate beads, and the simulated gap and generalized wear were determined using a noncontact profilometer (Proscan 2100) in conjunction with the Proscan and AnSur 3D software. RESULTS: A strong relationship was found between the gap wear and generalized wear simulation models. The simulated gap wear and generalized wear of the resin luting cements followed similar trends in terms of both volume loss and mean depth of wear facets with each curing method. Unlike the simulated gap wear and generalized wear of GL and PV, those of MA, NX, and RU were influenced by the curing method. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate that simulated gap wear of resin luting cements is very similar to simulated generalized wear. In most cases, dual curing appears to ensure greater wear resistance of resin luting cements than chemical curing alone. The wear resistance of some resin luting cements appears to be material dependent and is not influenced by the curing method.
