Comparison of shear test methods for evaluating the bond strength of resin cement to zirconia ceramic.

Abstract Objective. This study compared the sensitivity of three shear test methods for measuring the shear bond strength (SBS) of resin cement to zirconia ceramic and evaluated the effects of surface treatment methods on the bonding. Materials and methods. Polished zirconia ceramic (Cercon® base, DeguDent) discs were randomly divided into four surface treatment groups: no treatment (C), airborne-particle abrasion (A), conditioning with Alloy primer (Kuraray Medical Co.) (P) and conditioning with Alloy primer after airborne-particle abrasion (AP). The bond strengths of the resin cement (Multilink N, Ivoclar Vivadent) to the zirconia specimens of each surface treatment group were determined by three SBS test methods: the conventional SBS test with direct filling of the mold (O 4 mm × 3 mm) with resin cement (Method 1), the conventional SBS test with cementation of composite cylinders (O 4 mm × 3 mm) using resin cement (Method 2) and the microshear bond strength (μSBS) test with cementation of composite cyl...