Influence of surface treatment and ageing on the bond strength of resin cement to hybrid and glass-ceramic CAD/CAM materials

The influence of different surface treatments and ageing on the shear bond strength (SBS) of computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) materials is still contentious. Therefore, this study evaluated the effect of surface treatments and ageing on the SBS of resin cement to polymer-infiltrated ceramic network (PICN) and zirconia-reinforced lithium silicate (ZLS) CAD/CAM materials. Specimens of PICN (n=10) and ZLS (n=10) were submitted to four surface treatment groups: 1) 5% hydrofluoric acid etching (HF) + silanisation (SI); 2) Air abrasion (AB)+HF+SI; 3) HF + universal adhesive (UA); 4) AB+HF+SI+UA. The treated specimens were bonded with resin cement cylinders and tested in SBS after 24 h and one year of water storage. Data were assessed by “analysis of variance” (ANOVA) and Tukey test (α=0.05) and failure modes were classified. No significant differences were observed among treatments at each evaluation time (p>0.05). SBS decreased after one year of storage, except for PICN treated with HF+UA (p=0.068). Air-abraded groups displayed a lower SBS reduction for ZLS. PICN and ZLS exhibited predominantly adhesive and mixed failures, but at one year, PICN cohesive failures increased. In conclusion, HF+UA is an effective surface treatment for PICN, while the combination AB+HF+SI+UA was more appropriate for ZLS. The water storage for one year reduced the SBS for most groups.