Fatigue failure load of an adhesively-cemented lithium disilicate glass-ceramic: Conventional ceramic etching vs etch & prime one-step primer

Abstract Objectives To evaluate the effect of different glass-ceramic surface treatments and aging on the fatigue failure load of a lithium disilicate glass-ceramic adhesively cemented to a dentin analogue material. Methods One hundred and twenty (120) disc-shaped lithium disilicate specimens (O = 10 mm, thickness = 1.5 mm) were produced and randomly allocated (n = 20) into 6 groups, considering 2 study factors: “surface treatment” in 3 levels (SIL—silane application only; HF5+SIL—5% hydrofluoric acid etching and silane application; MEP aging—storage for 90 days + 12,000 thermal cycles). Ceramic discs were adhesively cemented to discs of a dentin analogue material (O = 10 mm, thickness = 2.0 mm) following the manufacturers’ instructions. The fatigue failure load was determined by the staircase approach (250,000 cycles; 20 Hz; initial load = 1050 N [∼70% of mean load-to-failure]; step size = 52.5 N [5% of initial load]). Micro-morphologic, fractographic, and atomic force microscope analysis were also performed. Fatigue failure load data were evaluated by one-way ANOVA, Bonferroni and t-tests for independent samples. Results HF5+SIL presented higher fatigue failure load in both conditions (baseline and aging); ME&P presented intermediary mean values, while the SIL group presented the worst performance. All groups had a statistically significant decrease in the fatigue performance after aging. Significance Hydrofluoric acid followed by silane application showed the best fatigue performance for an adhesively-cemented lithium disilicate ceramic. Aging negatively influenced the fatigue performance for all tested groups.