Properties of Commercially Available Luting Agents.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and compare the mechanical properties, water sorption and solubility and shear bond strengths of eight commercially available luting agents to silver-palladiumcopper-gold (Ag-Pd-Cu-Au) dental alloy. Five adhesive resin cements, Bistite Resin Cement, Imperva Dual, Panavia EX, Panavia 21 and Super-Bond C & B and three conventional luting agents, zinc phosphate (Elite Cement 100), carboxylate (HY-bond Carbo Cement) and glass ionomer (Fuji Bond) were used. In general, resin cements except for Super-Bond C & B showed higher values of Knoop hardness and compressive, diametral and transverse strengths than conventional luting agents. Adhesive resin cements showed much less water sorption and solubility than ordinary cements. Adhesive luting agents maintained excellent bond strengths of approximately 27-37 MPa to Ag-Pd-Cu-Au alloy after 50, 000 thermocycles while alternately immersing the specimen in 4°C and 60°C water for one minute each. These results suggest that resip cements may be more clinically useful for cementing restorations than conventional luting agents.