Retentive and compressive strengths of modified zinc oxide-eugenol cements

Surface morphological and mechanical properties of zinc oxide eugenol using different types of ZnO nanopowder

Zinc oxide eugenol (ZOE) cements are generally made up of 80%-90% ZnO powder while the remaining content consists of eugenol bonding resin. ZnO structure plays a major role in the morphology and mechanical properties of ZOE. In this study, we investigated the effects of different particle sizes/shapes of ZnO particles on the surface and mechanical properties of ZOE. Three samples were prepared namely ZnO-Ax, ZnO-B and ZnO-K. The crystallite sizes calculated from XRD were 37.76 nm (ZnO-Ax), 39.46 nm (ZnO-B) and 42.20 nm (ZnO-K) while the average particle sizes obtained by DLS were 21.11nm (ZnO-Ax), 56.73 nm (ZnO-B) and 2012 nm (ZnO-K). Results revealed that the compressive strengths of ZOE-Ax and ZOE-B were improved by 87.92% and 57.16%, respectively, relative to that of commercial ZOE-K. Vickers hardness test demonstrated that the hardness of ZOE-Ax and ZOE-B also increased by 74.9% and 31.1%, respectively. The ZnO-Ax nanostructure possessed a small average particle size (21.11 nm), a homogeneous size distribution (DLS) and an oxygen-rich surface (from EDS and elemental mapping). Meanwhile, ZnO-B exhibited a slightly larger average particle size of 56.73 nm compared with that of other samples. Sample ZnO-Ax demonstrated the highest compressive strength which was attributed to its large particle surface area (21.11 nm particle size) that provided a large contact area and greater interfacial (or interlock) bonding capability if compared to that of ZnO-K sample (2012 nm particle size).

The influence of implant abutment surface roughness and the type of cement on retention of implant supported crowns

OBJECTIVES

To provide relative data on the retentive characters of the commonly used cements on different implant abutment surfaces.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 20 implant abutments were divided into 2 groups. Ten implants were unaltered and ten were air borne particle abraded with 50μ aluminium oxide. Three luting agents (Tempbond, IRM and ImProv) were used to secure the crowns to abutments. All the crowns were removed from the abutment with an Instron machine at 0.5mm per minute and tensile bond strengths were recorded. Statistical analysis was performed using Anova, Paired t-test and Post-Hoc tests.

RESULTS

IRM showed the highest mean tensile strength among the three cements when used with treated and untreated implant abutment surfaces. Change in the abutment surface roughness had no effect on the mean tensile bond strength of TempBond and IRM cements, whereas ImProv cement showed reduced tensile strength with sandblasted surface.

CONCLUSION

When increased retention is required IRM cement with either sandblasted or milled surface could be used and when retrievability is required cements of choice could be either TempBond or ImProv.

Retention of crowns cemented on implant abutments with temporary cements

This study was to examine the retentive force of crowns to implant abutments with commercial temporary cements. Six different temporary cements were investigated. Cast crowns were cemented to the abutments using each cement and their retentive forces to abutments were determined 7 or 28 days after cementing (n=10). The retentive force of the cements to abutments varied widely among the products [27-109 N (7-day), 18-80 N (28-days)]. The retentive force of all the cements was not reduced as the time elapsed, except for two products tested. The polycarboxylate cements and paste-mixing type eugenol-free cements revealed comparable retentive force after 28 days of storage. The powder-liquid type cements showed a positive correlation (p<0.05) between the retentive force and the shear strength, while a negative correlation (p<0.05) was obtained for paste-mixing type cement between the retentive force and compressive strength. Mechanical strength of temporary cements could not be a prominent predicting factor for retention of the crowns on the abutments.