Shear bond strength of luting agents to fixed prosthodontic restorative core materials

Background: Bonding properties of luting cements are important for retention of restorative core materials. The aim of this study was to compare the bonding performance of a resin-modified glass ionomer cement and a self-adhesive resin cement to various fixed prosthodontic core materials. Methods: Cylindrical specimens with a thickness of 2 mm and a diameter of 5 mm were fabricated from Au-Pd-Ag, Co-Cr, Ni-Cr-Mo, Ni-Cr-Fe alloys, titanium, zirconia and Empress II (n = 20). Each group was divided into two subgroups to be luted with two different luting agents. Composite resin blocks were cemented onto specimens with RelyXUnicem and FujiCem. A shear bond strength machine with 50 kg load cell and 0.50 mm/min crosshead speed was used. Kruskal Wallis test, Dunn's Multiple Range test and Mann-Whitney-U test were used for statistical analysis. The results were evaluated in a confidence interval of p < 0.05. Results: The highest bond strength was obtained between Ni-Cr-Fe-RelyXUnicem (8.22 +/- 2.15 MPa) and the lowest was between Empress II-FujiCem (1.48 +/- 0.9 MPa). In FujiCem groups, Co-Cr and Ni-Cr-Fe showed significantly higher bond strength than Au-Pd-Ag and Empress II. In RelyX Unicem groups, Ni-Cr-Fe showed higher bond strength than Empress II. Conclusions: The types of luting agents and restorative core materials may have a significant influence on bond strength.