Sealing capability and marginal fit of titanium versus zirconia abutments with different connection designs

PURPOSE: Limited data is available regarding the differences for possible microleakage problems and fitting accuracy of zirconia versus titanium abutments with various connection designs. The purpose of this in vitro study was to investigate the effect of connection design and abutment material on the sealing capability and fitting accuracy of abutments. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 42 abutments with different connection designs [internal conical (IC), internal tri-channel (IT), and external hexagonal (EH)] and abutment materials [titanium (Ti) and zirconia (Zr)] were evaluated. The inner parts of implants were inoculated with 0.7 µL of polymicrobial culture (P. gingivalis, T. forsythia, T. denticola and F. nucleatum) and connected with their respective abutments under sterile conditions. The penetration of bacteria into the surrounding media was assessed by the visual evaluation of turbidity at each time point and the number of colony forming units (CFUs) was counted. The marginal gap at the implant- abutment interface (IAI) was measured by scanning electron microscope. The data sets were statistically analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis followed by Mann-Whitney U tests with the Bonferroni-Holm correction (α=.05). RESULTS: Statistically significant difference was found among the groups based on the results of leaked colonies (P<.05). The EH-Ti group characterized by an external hexagonal connection were less resistant to bacterial leakage than the groups EH-Zr, IT-Zr, IT-Ti, IC-Zr, and IC-Ti (P<.05). The marginal misfit (in µm) of the groups were in the range of 2.7–4.0 (IC-Zr), 1.8–5.3 (IC-Ti), 6.5–17.1 (IT-Zr), 5.4–12.0 (IT-Ti), 16.8–22.7 (EH-Zr), and 10.3–15.4 (EH-Ti). CONCLUSION: The sealing capability and marginal fit of abutments were affected by the type of abutment material and connection design.

The effect of light sources and CAD/CAM monolithic blocks on degree of conversion of cement

PURPOSE: To assess the degree of conversion (DC) and light irradiance delivered to light-cured and dual-cured cements by application of different light sources through various types of monolithic computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS: RelyX Ultimate Clicker light-cured and dual-cured resin cement specimens with 1.5-mm thicknesses (n=300, 10/group), were placed under four types of crystalline core structure (Vita Enamic, Vita Suprinity, GC Ceresmart, Degudent Prettau Anterior). The specimens were irradiated for 40 seconds with an LED Soft-Start or pulse-delay unit or 20 seconds with a QTH unit. DC ratios were determined by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) after curing the specimen at 1 day and 1 month. The data were analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U test (for paired comparison) and the Kruskal-Wallis H test (for multiple comparison), with a significance level of P < .05. RESULTS: DC values were the highest for RelyX Ultimate Clicker light-cure specimens polymerized with the LED Soft-Start unit. The combination of the Vita Suprinity disc and RelyX Ultimate Clicker dual-cure resin cement yielded significantly higher values at both timepoints with all light units (all, P < .05). CONCLUSION: Within the limitations of this study, we conclude that the DC of RelyX Ultimate Clicker dual-cure resin cement was improved significantly by the use of Vita Suprinity and the LED Soft-Start light unit. We strongly recommend the combined use of an LED light unit and dual-cure luting cement for monolithic ceramic restorations.