Effects of sterilization, conditioning, and thermal aging on the retention of zirconia hybrid abutments: A laboratory study

• Published in: Clinical implant dentistry and related research 2024-08, Vol.26 (4), p.679-687
• Main Authors: Alghanaim, Nalah, Kern, Matthias, Yazigi, Christine, Chaar, M. Sad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adhesive bonding; Aging; Aging (materials); Aluminum oxide; Autoclaving; Conditioning; Disinfectants; hybrid abutments; Resins; Retention; Statistical analysis; Statistics; Sterilization; Subgroups; tensile bond strength; Thermal cycling; thermocycling; Variance analysis; Water baths; Zirconia; zirconia abutments; Zirconium dioxide
• ISSN: 1523-0899; 1708-8208; 1708-8208
• DOI: 10.1111/cid.13332

Objective To investigate the effects of sterilization, conditioning method, and thermal aging on the retentive strength of two‐piece zirconia abutments. Materials and Methods In total, 128 stock zirconia abutments were divided into four groups (n = 32) according to the conditioning parameters: (A) air‐abrasion using 50 μm alumina particles/1.0 bar, (B) 50 μm/2.0 bar, (C) 100 μm/1.0 bar, and (D) 100 μm/2.0 bar. All abutments were bonded onto titanium bases using DTK adhesive resin and stored in water bath (37°C) for 72 h. Each group was subdivided into two subgroups (n = 16), group 1 was disinfected, whereas group 2 followed disinfection and autoclave sterilization. Half of the specimens of each subgroup (n = 8) was directly subjected to the axial retention test (groups N), while the other half was first subjected to 150 days of thermocycling followed by retention test (groups T). Statistical analysis was performed with three‐way ANOVA, additional statistical analysis was performed by using separate one‐way ANOVAs followed by the Tukey's post‐hoc test for post hoc pairwise comparisons among groups. Results The highest median retention strength was recorded for group B2N (1390 N), whereas the lowest strength was recorded for group C1T (688 N). No significant interaction (p ≥ 0.05) was detected between the different variables; conditioning method, sterilization, and the thermal cycling regarding the effect on the resulting retention. However, the sterilization always showed a positive effect. Thermocycling presented an adversely significant effect only in the absence of sterilization (p