Impact of thermocycling on surface roughness, microhardness and optical properties of three different lithium disilicate ceramics.

Objectives: This investigation was carried out to examine the influence of thermocycling aging on the surface roughness (Ra, µm), color parameters (L*, a*, b*), lightness change (ΔL*), chroma change (ΔC*ab), color change (ΔE), and microhardness (VH) of three lithium disilicate ceramics. Materials and methods: Forty-five specimens were prepared from three lithium disilicate materials (n = 15)-e.max CAD (EC), e.max Press (EP), and GC Initial LiSi Press (LP) ceramics-with dimensions of 6.0 × 1.2 × 16.0 ± 0.2 mm following the manufacturers' instructions. All specimens were exposed to 5000 thermal cycles with bath temperatures ranging between 5 °C and 55 °C. Data of surface roughness, color parameters, and microhardness were obtained using an optical profiler, a spectrophotometer, and a Vickers hardness tester, respectively. One-way ANOVA, a post-hoc Tukey's test, and a paired sample t-test were implemented for statistical analysis (p ≤ 0.05). Results: For surface roughness, insignificant differences were reported between the materials either before or after thermocycling (p > 0.05) while each material displayed a significant increase after being subjected to thermocycling (p < 0.05). For color parameters, LP showed significantly lower L* and b* after thermocycling while EC presented a significant reduction in a* in comparison with other materials (p < 0.05). EP showed a significant decrease in ΔL*, ΔC*ab and ΔE compared with other materials (p < 0.05). Regarding microhardness, LP showed significantly increase value in comparison with other materials (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Thermocycling had a major impact on the surface roughness, microhardness and optical characteristics of the tested materials. E.max Press displayed less changes in (ΔL*), (ΔC*ab) and (ΔE), while GC LiSi Press had better behavior in terms of microhardness.

The Bond Strength of a Universal Adhesive System with Silane to Lithium Disilicates in Comparison with an Isolated Silane Coupling Agent.

PURPOSE: The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the effects of different durations of silane coupling agent application compared to a universal adhesive system regarding the shear bond strength of two ceramic materials. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 120 human molars were ground to the dentinal coronal third and then fixed into an acrylic resin holder. Lithium disilicate specimens were divided into two main groups according to the ceramic type: computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing IPS e.max CAD and heat-pressed Initial LiSi Press GC (dimensions of 4 × 3× 3 mm). Each main group was subdivided into 6 subgroups (n = 10) according to the duration of the silane and universal adhesive system application (20, 60, or 120 seconds) on the ceramic surface before cementation; then, the cementation procedures were performed. All specimens were subjected to 5000 thermal cycles at 5 and 55°C before testing. The shear bond strength was measured using a universal testing machine. ANOVA and Scheffe post hoc test multiple comparisons tests were conducted (α = 0.05). RESULTS: The shear bond strength increased as the duration of the silane and universal adhesive system application increased. The highest bond value for each material was found for the silane application at 120 seconds, with a significant difference between 120 and 60, and 20 seconds for both e. max CAD and Initial LiSi materials (p = 0.029 and p ˂ 0.001, respectively). No significant difference was found between 60 and 20 seconds when silane and universal adhesive system were applied for both e. max CAD and Initial LiSi materials (p = 0.169 and p = 0.120, respectively). All groups treated with the silane primer showed significantly higher values than the universal adhesive system for each application time (p ˂ 0.001). CONCLUSION: Increasing the duration of the silane coupling agent and universal adhesive system application to 120 seconds on the ceramic surface before cementation improved the shear bond strength of the ceramic-cement interface. Ceramic pretreatment with silane could be an essential step for bonding ceramic to dentin regardless of silane presence in the universal adhesive system.

Flexural properties of three lithium disilicate materials: An in vitro evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this study was to investigate the flexural strength, Young's modulus and Weibull modulus of two heat-pressed and one CAD/CAM processed lithium disilicate (LD) ceramics. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 45 specimens with dimensions 16 × 4 × 1.2 ± 0.2 mm were fabricated out of three LD ceramics. For heat-pressed LD specimens, acrylate polymer blocks were cut and divided into two groups (n = 15 per group); a GC LiSi Press LD group (LP) and an IPS e.max Press group (EP). Specimens for each group were pressed corresponding to the manufacturer's recommendations. For the CAD-CAM Group (EC), IPS e.max CAD blocks were cut to obtain specimens (n = 15) to the desired dimensions. Flexural strength and Young's modulus tests were executed using a universal testing machine. A one-way ANOVA and post-hoc Tuckey's tests were applied to analyze the results (p ≤ 0.05). RESULTS: Regarding flexural strength, the EC group showed higher statistically substantial difference than the EP and LP groups (p = 0.001), while there was no pronounced difference between the EP and LP groups (p = 0.065). For Young's modulus test, all the three tested groups had no statistically substantial difference (p = 0.798). CONCLUSION: The IPS e.max CAD group had higher mechanical performance than the IPS e.max Press and GC LiSi Press groups.